The Trainer's Chronicles
by Turrin379
Summary: A thrilling, non-stop action Pokémon story continuously jumping from plot to plot. It's a first person story told by Daniel, a young 14 year old trainer who has many exciting tales to tell of his never ending Pokémon journey.
1. Chapter 1

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Daniel. I am a Pokémon trainer, and have been for about two and a half years. Before you start assuming anything, don't. This Pokémon world isn't like the ones you're thinking about. It doesn't follow all the physical rules as that stupid TV show you watch, or that video game you play. Don't ask how I know about them, it was a complicated brush up with Team Galactic.

I woke up on the ground this morning, like usual. The only time I really sleep in a bed is when I'm visiting home in Littleroot, about once every 2 months, and when I have enough money for a room at a Pokémon Center.

I rummaged through my back pack and realized I was running low on food. I figured it was better now than earlier in the week, since I was getting closer to Rustboro City anyway. I found a few stale granola bars, and with a sigh, unwrapped them.

After finding some Pokémon energy bars, which was sadly all I had left, I let out my Pokémon. My team consists of the six: Blaziken, Scizor, Raichu, Luxray, Charizard, and Sceptile. I only had six energy bars left, which wasn't much. They all looked really disappointed, like they had just been given a jar of dirt for breakfast.

"Sorry guys, it's all I've got," I said sympathetically, feeling hungry myself. Charizard, however, grabbed his energy bar, gleefully swallowing it with on bite. Then he looked back at me with pleading eyes, licking his lips.

"Charizard, I just told you! That's all I have!" I responded. I felt sorry for him, seeing as I had been riding on his back most of the previous day, so he must've been tired.

As my Pokémon and I finished eating, I pulled out a list to see what I was planning on doing that day. I knew I had to get to Rustboro by two o' clock, because I had a battle scheduled with my friend Nick.

Me and Nick had a battle once every Wednesday, just for the sake of seeing each other often, and it was a good workout for our Pokémon.

I also wanted to get to the Battle Tower info center, to see if I had any recent challenges.

That last sentence may have confused you. See, if you're a member of the Battle Tower Battle club, people can look you up and request battles online. At the Battle Tower info center, you can check to see if anyone's challenged you, challenge other people, and schedule when a battle should be held once a challenge has been issued. Once a date and time is decided, the battle is held then at the Battle Tower in Hoenn.

As I finally finished mapping out what I was doing for the day, a quick movement caught my eye. I quickly turned around to see what it was, and I quickly recognized it as the purple and white monkey looking Pokémon, Aipom. I got really excited, because to this day I still hadn't caught an Aipom before.

"Sceptile!" I called, and Sceptile looked over at me, then at the Aipom.

"Sceptile!" He called back, and quickly ran over to me. The other Pokémon stood and watched, wide eyed.

Aipom was looking confused, obviously not anticipating a battle.

"Use leaf blade!" I commanded, and the blades on the ends of Sceptile's arms began to glow bright green.

"Sceptile!" He yelled loudly. He jumped high into the air, and came back down, the blades on his arms striking home, right onto an unexpecting Aipom. Aipom went flying back, landing flat on his back. The hand on his tail propped him back up, however, and he wasn't looking so innocent anymore. He was looking pretty angry, in fact. The hand on the end of his tail turned into a fist, and it began to glow white. I knew immediately that Aipom was preparing to use focus punch.

"That's focus punch!" I called to Sceptile. "Sceptile, look out!"

"Sceptile!" Sceptile called back. Aipom came sprinting toward Sceptile, the rage evident on his face. As Aipom swung his fist at Sceptile, Sceptile leaned quickly to the left, easily avoiding Aipom's focus punch. Aipom put too much force in the punch, however, and went spinning past Sceptile until he hit the ground. Sceptile stood above Aipom, awaiting another command.

"Okay Sceptile," I called. "Now you use focus punch!" Sceptile raised his fist, which began to glow, and quickly brought it back down on the still recovering Aipom. Aipom let out a pained cry, and it became evident that he was too hurt to move. I decided it was time to catch it.

I dug through my bag, and pulled out an ultra ball.

"All right Sceptile, that's enough." I told him, and he quickly retreated. I threw the ball as hard as I could. It bounced off Aipom, quickly absorbed him, and fell to the ground. It wriggled around for quite a while, and eventually stopped moving. I quickly ran over to it and picked it up. I pressed the button on the ball, sending it to my PC.

"Great job, Sceptile!" I said. "You just helped me get one step closer to filling the Pokédex!" Sceptile seemed very happy, and all my other Pokémon were cheering in the background.

"All right guys, back into your pokéballs," I told them. They looked sorrowful. "Except you, Charizard, you've gotta fly me to Rustboro." He looked even more sorrowful.

After everyone was in their pokéballs, I climbed onto his back, and he took off. I loved the feeling of the wind against my face. I almost lost my hat one time, too.

Charizard and I both felt really tired after finally landing in Rustboro.

"First thing's first," I told myself. "Head over to the Battle Tower info center." I made my way over to the front desk and asked the young lady if I could check my challenges.

"Your name?" She asked me.

"Daniel Nollan," I replied.

"Oh, you're the one that got second place in the Hoenn tournament last year, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Challenges, Challenges... Nope! Sorry sir, but no one seems to have challenged you since you last checked."

"Oh. Okay, then. Goodbye." I felt kind of disregarded, considering I hadn't had a challenge for two months.

"Okay," I thought to myself. "Now it's time to get more Pokémon food at the Pokémart, then get some for myself at the Pokémon Center." Walking over, I thought about my upcoming battle with Nick. He had won the last two battles we had, but I was hoping to change that, because I had been training my Pokémon really hard the past week. I just hoped they weren't too tired.

As I left the Pokémart, I let out my Pokémon and gave them each some more decent food. It's an understatement to say that they were happy to have it. They munched it down like the end of the world was coming tomorrow, and you were more likely to survive the fatter you were.

After they were done eating, I realized I was really hungry myself. I headed over to the Pokémon Center and checked the time. It was twelve-thirty, I had an hour and a half to get over to the beach where Nick would be waiting for me.

As I came nearer to the Pokémon Center, I saw a guy running in the opposite direction of me as fast as he could, holding his Tailow close to him, like he was protecting it. I wondered why he was in such a rush.

Then I understood as the Pokémon Center came into view. There was smoke rising from the Pokémon Center, and there were people trying to get out as fast as they could. I ran toward it.

As I ran inside, I saw nurse Joy on the ground with just a Chansey between her and a Mightyena. Commanding the Mightyena was a man in black, but it was a uniform I knew all too well. This guy was a Team Rocket member.

I hated these guys. I hated these guys with a passion. I had way too many encounters with them in the past, and just seeing a member made me want to rip his head off.

The grunt turned around and saw me.

"What are you doing here, kid? Get lost!" He snarled. His Mightyena turned around and snarled, too. I just glared at him.

"Is 'get lost' the only term in your vocabulary? That's all you guys ever say!" I yelled back at him. I knew I was in for a fight, so I grabbed Scizor's pokéball and threw it. "Scizor, use metal claw!" Scizor erupted from the pokéball. As he landed on the ground, he drew back his claw, preparing to strike.

"Mightyena, use bite!" the Rocket yelled. Mightyena barred his teeth and ran toward Scizor. As Mightyena reached him, Scizor simply laid down his claw on Mightyena's head before it had a chance to even try to bite him. Mightyena hit the ground with a yelp. Scizor then proceeded to slash the Mightyena continuously with his claws while it was still on the ground.

The Rocket grunt was looking surprised. Scizor laid one final smackdown on Mightyena, and it was out cold. The Rocket Grunt took his pokéball and retrieved his Mightyena. He then proceeded to run right by me, out the door, as fast as he could.

Nurse Joy got up and called to me.

"Please, there are more of them in the back, taking all the Pokémon!" She said.

"Figures," I replied, and ran to the back to where treatment is for the Pokémon, with Scizor close behind me. There were two more Team Rocket members, stuffing their bags full of pokéballs.

"Drop the bags." I said forcefully.

"Get lost, kid!" One of them yelled.

"Seriously, think of something more original," I said, grabbing Luxray's Pokéball.

The two grunts sent out an Arbok and another Mightyena.

"Luxray, use iron tail on Arbok. Scizor, use fury cutter on Mightyena until I give you further instructions." I commanded. I figured I would need to focus more on Arbok, I could tell he was more dangerous. Scizor went at it with Mightyena, furiously fury cutting. Luxray's tail began to glow, and he jumped into the air, doing a front flip. Arbok watched, waiting for a chance to hit Luxray with something. That chance never came, though, and Luxray laid his iron tail dead center on Arbok's face, finishing hi flip. Arbok cried out in agony, hissing wildly.

"Arbok, use poison fang!" The grunt called out.

"Luxray, hit him with thunder before he reaches you!" I said in response. Luxray let loose with an air ripping thunder attack, zotzing the consciousness out of his opponent. Even 10 feet away, I could feel the tingle in the air as thunder hit its mark. Stupified, the rocket grunt retrieved his Arbok.

Meanwhile, Scizor was about to finish up with Mightyena. His fury cutter was at full force now, and Mightyena was taking it head on, which wasn't necessarily a good thing for him. After one last fury cutter, Mightyena collapsed on the ground, too hurt to get back up. The rocket grunt retrieved his Mightyena, and they both ran off without taking the bags of pokéballs with them. I wouldn't have let them anyway.

Nurse Joy came over to me and treated my tired Pokémon. As soon as they were better, I left, not wanting to miss my battle with Nick. I made my way up north and out of the city. I walked through the grass along the route, and made my way down the ledge on my left to the beach below. I felt ready, my pokémon had been training hard for the last week. My eyes scanned along the beach, looking for Nick. I saw him and his Jolteon standing a few meters away, facing the water. He looked as if he were deep in thought. It was easy to tell it was him, even from so far away. He had dark brown hair, a bright yellow T-shirt, and dark blue Jean shorts. They came down to just over his knees, because he was actually kind of short for his age. I started to walk over to him. He noticed me as I was about half way to him.

"Daniel!" He exclaimed, obviously happy to see me.

"Hey, Nick!" I said back. "How have you been, have your Pokémon been training hard?"

"Yup! Especially Furret, I just caught her recently!" He replied.

"So, are you ready?" I asked as an obvious challenge. He nodded. His Jolteon was crouched, looking at me, like it was ready for combat.

"Yep." Nick replied walking backwards, making room for a battlefield.

"Okay then," I asked. "Who goes first?"

"I'll pick first pokémon," he said. "Since you can take a type advantage, I'll make the first move."

"Sounds good," I replied. "Six on six, full battle as always?"

"Yeah." He looked back at Jolteon. "Okay Jolteon, you're first." Jolteon ran to the battlefield, looking eager to start. I grabbed Luxray's pokéball, looking for an electrifying start to the battle.

"Luxray took out a Team Rocket member's Arbok today," I said. "So Jolteon should watch out. He's already warmed up."

"Fine," Nick replied simply. "Let's start! Jolteon, use thunderwave!"

"Luxray, dodge with double team!" I commanded. As soon as I said it, there were two Luxrays running in different directions, Jolteon's thunder wave striking a mere illusion. "Now follow up with Iron tail!" Luxray's tail turned a shiny iron-like grey, and he jumped into the air and did a flip, just like he did against Arbok.

"Jolteon, detect!" Nick yelled, and Jolteon disappeared right as Luxray was about to strike, and reappeared a few feet left of Luxray after Luxray's iron tail hit the sand. "Use Thunder!" Nick yelled, and around Jolteon exploded a huge mass of electricity directed right at Luxray.

"Luxray, double team!" I said, and once again, Luxray split into two Luxrays. This time, however, Jolteon's attack didn't hit the false Luxray. It hit the actual Luxray. Luxray stood his ground despite the massive amounts of lightning coursing through his body. Eventually, the electricity subsided, and Luxray shook it off.

"Electricity isn't very effective against itself, Nick," I said. "Luxray, use strength!"

"Jolteon, detect!" Nick yelled at Jolteon, and again, Jolteon disappeared right as Luxray was about to strike, and once again, appeared a little to the left of him. "Now use last resort!"

Jolteon ran at Luxray head on, while small glowing star shaped objects began to circle around him. Jolteon slammed into Luxray headfirst, sending Luxray sprawling on the sand.

"Luxray, you okay?" I asked, concerned. Luxray didn't respond. I sighed. "Good job, Luxray! You did very well." I reached for Luxray's pokéball and pulled him back into his pokéball. Then I took out Raichu's pokéball and sent him out.

"Raichu," I warned. "Look out for Jolteon's 'last resort' attack, it's devastating." Raichu looked back and nodded. "Good. Now, use iron tail!" Raichu ran toward Jolteon, building up momentum.

"Jolteon, use detect!" Nick commanded. Raichu was coming up on Jolteon. Raichu jumped up into the air. As he came back down, Jolteon disappeared again. Coming down, Raichu didn't attack. He landed on his feet, and swung his iron tail to his left before Jolteon even appeared again. By the time Jolteon did, however, it was too late to dodge. Raichu's iron tail slammed into Jolteon's side, sending him skidding. Jolteon didn't fall over, but still went a hefty distance back.

"Jolteon, use thunderwave!" Nick yelled. Jolteon sent a wave of electricity at Raichu, but Raichu jumped back on his tail, and used it to propel himself high above the thunderwave.

"Good job, Raichu!" I said, surprised at what Raichu did. I loved it when my Pokémon did cool stuff without me telling them to. "Now use thunder!" Raichu erupted into a blast of electricity in mid-flight, and Jolteon was still surprised that Raichu had jumped over thunderwave. The surge of electricity hit it's mark, with Jolteon gritting his teeth, trying to withstand the attack. Then, on Raichu's way back down, he struck Jolteon with another iron tail. Jolteon cried out in pain as he flew back to Nick's feet.

"Jolteon!" Nick cried out, obviously worried for his Pokémon. He drew Jolteon back into his pokéball, and then, without throwing the pokéball, sent out an Ampharos. "Ampharos, use body slam!" Ampharos ran at Raichu, and when he was about five feet away, jumped into the air, his body horizontal to the ground, with Raichu right below him.

"Raichu, move and use thunderpunch!" I yelled, hoping that maybe if he was lucky, Raichu could pull it off. He did. With amazing speed, Raichu dove to his right, leaving Ampharos to do a full on belly flop on the sand. Then while Ampharos was trying to get up, Raichu's tail turned to metal, and he did a flip, just like Luxray, landing his tail straight on Ampharos's back.

"Ampharos, are you okay?" Nick called out. Ampharos quickly sprang to his feet. I was amazed at Ampharos's endurance. He got up to his feet in about a second after taking a full on iron tail, and belly flopping straight into the sand! "Ampharos, energy ball!" A ball of electricity formed between Ampharos's stubby arms, and while he launched it at Raichu, I half expected him to yell 'hadouken'. Unfortunately, Raichu wasn't able to move fast enough. He jumped, but it still caught him on his waist, and the force of it sent him spinning headfirst into the sand.

"Raichu!" I called. "Can you get up?" Raichu, with some effort, got to his feet. Nick and Ampharos waited for Raichu and I to make a move. I thought for a while, then decided. "Raichu, use thunderpunch!" Raichu's fist sparked, and he began to charge Ampharos.

"Ampharos, use body slam again!" Nick commanded. As Raichu ran toward Ampharos, Ampharos ran toward Raichu. Ampharos sprang into the air, but Raichu stayed on the ground.

"Bad idea, Nick," I said.

"Huh?" Nick replied, confused.

"Raichu, thunderpunch!" I yelled to Raichu. As Ampharos was coming down belly first, Raichu caught Ampharos right in the stomach with his thunderpunch, then let Ampharos fall to the ground. Ampharos was knocked out.

"Cool maneuver, Daniel!" Nick said, retrieving his fallen Ampharos. Then he threw another pokéball, which released his Furret. "Furret, use attract!" Furret winked, and Raichu started staggering.

"Raichu!" I called. "Snap out of it!" Raichu kept staggering.

"Furret, use return!" Nick commanded, and Furret ran at Raichu with full force. Raichu held his arms out, like he was expecting a hug or something. Furret released a small punch to Raichu's gut, the a stronger one, then two more even stronger ones, until Furret looked like she was unleashing an attack from Dragon Ball Z. Raichu fell to the ground, not moving.

"Raichu, great work," I said, encouraging Raichu as I retrieved him. To stand against Furret's attack, I figured I would have to use a girl. Wouldn't you know it. I didn't have any. Instead, I pulled out my red flute from my back pack, ready to use. I sent out Sceptile. "Sceptile, use focus punch!" Sceptile's fist glowed a radiant white and he ran at extreme speeds towards Furret.

"Furret!" Nick called out. "use - shoot!" Sceptile's attack had already hit home, and Furret was already on the ground. "Get up and use attract!" As soon as Furret winked, I played a tune on my flute. Sceptile staggered backwards a bit, then called back to me, telling me he was all right. "Stupid red flute..." Nick muttered.

"Sceptile!" I commanded. "Use leaf blade!" The leaf blades on Sceptile's arms glowed green, and he started hacking and slashing furiously at Furret. Furret dodged a few, but couldn't keep it up. Eventually Sceptile got a hit, and then got four more until Furret fell onto the sand. Nick called Furret back to her pokéball. Then he casually tossed another pokéball into the air, letting out his most powerful pokémon, Typhlosion. I was rather surprised that he wasn't using Typhlosion as his last pokémon.

"Typhlosion, use eruption!" Typhlosion spit multiple fireballs into the air, all of which split into even more fireballs, all heading right for Sceptile.

"Sceptile, dodge!" Sceptile started doing what looked light something from "The Matrix," doing triple backflips and somersaults to avoid the fireballs, but once one hit him, all the rest hit him. He looked pretty bad, lying on the ground with his eyes squinted shut. "Sceptile!" I asked. "Can you get up?" He started pushing himself up, but before he could finish, he got hit by a star shaped blast of fire, sending him flying past me. Typlhosion's fire blast was something to be feared, I knew, and I also knew Sceptile wouldn't be able to recover from it. With that, I called him back into his pokéball.

Then I sent out Charizard. Charizard had battled Typhlosion before, but he wouldn't win. He had never won. It turned out I wouldn't have to worry about that though, because Nick withdrew Typhlosion and sent out his Azumarill. I wasn't too happy about that, but I knew the rules.

"Charizard, use wing attack!" I commanded.

"Use rollout!" Nick called to Azumarill. Charizard flew up and did a loop in the air, coming back down, aiming at Azumarill. Azumarill rolled into a ball and moved speedily toward Charizard like 'Kirby' with the wheel ability. When they were about to collide, Azumarill somehow hopped up while in ball form and caught Charizard square in the face. Charizard skidded into the sand, while Azumarill rolled toward Charizard with another attack, this time more powerful. I knew it would keep getting more powerful until I somehow stopped the rolling.

"Charizard! Fly over toward the water's edge!" I called. Charizard did so, and Azumarril rolled over toward Charizard. "Now use fly!" Charizard flew into the air, and Azumarill rolled into the water, slowing her down and eventually stopping her. "Awesome work, Charizard!" I said, satisfied with my tactic. The mistake was when Charizard flew back down to finish using fly.

"Azumarill, use surf!" Nick said, and the wave coming in behind Azumarill grew larger. Azumarill, riding on top of it, directed the wave to crash right into Charizard as he was flying in. Charizard fell onto the sand, drenched. He was knocked out. I withdrew him and congratulated Charizard on stopping rollout. Then I sent out Scizor. This time, however, Nick didn't sub out for another Pokémon.

"Scizor, use fury cutter!" I yelled, and Scizor flew, or buzzed, toward Azumarill. His speed was so great that Azumarill didn't have time to dodge. His slashes he executed with his claws got stronger the more times he hit. It was kind of like rollout, but with slashing.

"Azumarill, use blizzard!" Nick called out.

"Scizor, dive into the water!" I responded. Scizor flew up and dove under water, avoiding Azumarill's blizzard. I still felt the iciness of it, though, and it wasn't pleasant. Scizor erupted from the water, his wings a shining grey. He flew down and caught Azumarill in the chest with his wing, sending Azumarill flat on her back.

"Awesome move, Scizor!" I congratulated. "Now use fury cutter while she's still down!" Scizor started hacking and slashing at Azumarill. He eventually let up, and Azumarill didn't get up.

Nick called her back into her pokéball. Then he sent out his penultimate Pokémon, Altaria.

"Altaria, use dragon pulse!" A ball of glowing blue energy formed at Altaria's mouth, and she spat it flying right towards Scizor. Scizor flew to his right, easily avoiding the attack. With his momentum from the dodge, he flew straight for Altaria.

"Scizor, use metal claw!" I yelled, hoping he'd hear before he reached her. He did. His claw turned a shiny grey and he slammed it into the side of Altaria's head. For a moment, Altaria was on the ground, but quickly got back up.

"Altaria, dragon claw!" Nick commanded. Altaria charges Scizor feet first, because she didn't have hands.

"Scizor, use metal claw again!" I yelled. Scizor responded quickly, and their attack's collided. Scizor's claw and Altaria's foot were locked together.

"Altaria, use dragon pulse!" Before Scizor could respond, Altaria released a dragon pulse at point blank, leaving Scizor on the ground.

"Scizor, quickly!" I called, emphasizing the need for speed. "Get up and use wing attack!" Scizor quickly rose, flew up in a loop, and came back down aiming for Altaria. He did it so fast, Altaria didn't have time to move. Altaria caught Scizor's wing right in the forehead. Altaria hit the ground with a yelp, and didn't move. Nick called Altaria back into her pokéball. He was on his last Pokémon. Typhlosion. I always got really nervous battling Typhlosion. That's one seriously powerful pokémon.

He threw the pokéball, and out of it came Typhlosion.

"Typhlosion!" Nick called out. "Use fire blast!" fire blast came out of Typhlosion's mouth before I could say: 'wait, why not scratch?'. Before I knew it, fire blast collided with Scizor. Scizor fell to the ground, breathless and unmoving. I called him back to his Pokéball.

"Good job, Scizor," I said. "You took out two of his Pokémon!" Then I took out my last Pokémon. "Go, Blaziken!" I yelled. Blaziken erupted from his Pokéball. Typhlosion was a powerful pokémon, but, and I don't mean to brag, Blaziken was an extremely tough pokémon, too. As soon as you see those wrists light up, you know you're in for a fight.

"Here we go again." I said to Nick. My Blaziken and his Typhlosion had faced off on numerous occasions, and you could never tell who was going to win. "Your move." I said.

"Typhlosion, use eruption!" Nick commanded. Typhlosion spit up a bunch of fireballs again, all with split into more.

"Blaziken, jump over them!" I called. The fireballs all clustered like homing missiles, and right as they were all about to hit, Blaziken jumped. High. Blazikens have a reputation for being able to leap over skyscrapers, and my Blaziken is one of those. "Use brick break on your way down!" I called. As Blaziken fell to the ground, he punched Typhlosion right in the jaw, sending him back into the sand. Blaziken landed with such force that it shook the earth a little. Jumping that high, you're going to be falling really fast coming back down. Typhlosion got right back up, not showing any signs of pain.

"Typhlosion, use focus blast!" Nick yelled. Typhlosion formed a ball of sheer energy between his hands and launched it at Blaziken like a 'hadouken', just like Ampharos's energy ball. Blaziken took it right in his stomach. He fell over on the sand, but kicked himself back up.

"Blaziken, use fire punch and blaze kick in an assault!" I said. Blaziken ran up to Typhlosion. He thrust a fire punch, and Typhlosion ducked. Then he thrust his other hand in a fire punch, aimed at Typhlosion's head, which Typlosion leaned to his right to avoid. Finally, Blaziken jumped up to where his feet were level with Typhlosion's head, and spun around, kicking Typhlosion right in the side of the head with a blaze kick. Typhlosion cried out, but didn't fall over. He was looking really tired, though. "This is my chance," I thought. "He's weakening."

"Typhlosion, flame wheel!" Nick commanded, and Typhlosion rolled up into a ball of flame, rolling right toward Blaziken. Like Azumarill, he somehow managed a small hop, hitting Blaziken right in the center of his face. Blaziken fell onto the sand. Typhlosion kept rolling for about 20 or so meters, then did a U-turn.

"Blaziken, look out!" I yelled desperately. Blaziken got up slowly, but I didn't have time to give an order. Typhlosion was about one foot away. Blaziken held out his hands in an attempt to catch and stop Typhlosion's flame wheel. Blaziken wasn't able to stop the attack, but Typhlosion was thrown off balance by the force of Blaziken's resistance. Blaziken fell to the ground, and Typhlosion went spinning off, skidding into the sand. Neither of them moved.

"Typhlosion, can you get up?" Nick asked, but Typhlosion didn't move.

"Blaziken, can you move?" I asked, but he couldn't move either. "It's... A tie," I said, shocked.

"We haven't tied for at least a year!" Nick exclaimed, equally surprised. We both called our Pokémon back into their pokéballs.

"Lets hurry back to the Pokémon center," I suggested, wanting to heal my knocked out Pokémon.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea," Nick said, sarcastically. "That was really impressive battling on your Pokémon's part!"

"Thanks, you too! Especially your Typhlosion," I said back. As we walked back, exhausted, we talked about what we were going to do next.

"I think I'm going to get ready for the Hoenn tournament, it's coming up next month!" Nick said.

"That's a good idea, I hadn't thought of that yet!" I replied. "But first, I'm heading to Lilycove to have my battle with Josh. He challenged me the last time we met."

We healed our Pokémon and went our separate ways. He went off to Evergrande City to train, while I stayed at the Pokémon center for the night.

After tying with Nick, I thought, I had better not lose to Josh.

And where that story ends, another begins...


	2. The Aquarius Project

Okay, you haven't heard from me for a week, I know. It's just that telling you about a week of traveling, where nothing interesting happened, in detail, would be really boring.

I was so happy when Charizard and I finally landed on the ground in Lilycove City. We had been flying for a day straight, and it was getting really tiring.

"Okay Charizard, rest up." I called Charizard back into his pokéball. "We're going to have a big battle later today." I started toward the Pokémon Center, then I realized I hadn't had anything to eat yet. It was one o' clock, and I needed to meet Josh at two. I had one hour. Just enough time to eat something. My pokémon had already eaten earlier, so I just walked into a restaurant and ate quickly. It took me half an hour to finish, and it was a big city, so I could probably get to Lilycove Beach on time.

When I walked outside, though, I saw a kid kneeling on the ground crying, with two adults trying to calm him down.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Some thug just came and stole the poor guy's Electrode," one of the adults said.

"What? What did he look like? What was he wearing?" I asked, guessing it was probably a member of some group I had encountered before. There were so many of them. Team Rocket, Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Galactic... I got tired of running into them so much.

"Some burly guy wearing a blue bandana and a striped black and white T-shirt," the other adult responded.

"Team Aqua..." I said under my breath. "Hey, kid, do you have a pokénav?" The kid looked about 10 or 11, old enough to have one. He looked at me, red eyed, and nodded. "Great, register me, and I'll call you when I get your Electrode back."

"Y-you mean, you'll get him back for me? How? We don't know where he went!" The adults looked at me like I was a lunatic.

"Don't worry," I said. "I've done this a million times." The kid registered me on his pokénav. I got up. "Knowing Team Aqua, I'll probably have your Electrode back by tonight."

"Wow, thanks, mister!" The kid said, awestruck. I took off running. It was 1:45, I had 15 minutes to find Josh. Too bad I'd have to tell him we weren't going to be battling today.

When I got to the beach, I found Josh in no time. He was down by the water with his Lucario, who was launching aura spheres over the water. He had short brown hair, dark brown eyes, and was wearing a dark green T-shirt with tan cargo shorts.

"Hey, Josh! Long time no see!" He looked over at me and grinned his huge grin.

"Hey, Daniel! It's been awhile! Ready to battle?"

"Actually, no. I ran into some trouble back in the city. Some Team Aqua jerk stole a little kid's Electrode. I was going to ask if you wanted to help me get it back. Maybe then we could battle."

"Aw, I was really ready for our battle, but okay. Only one question, though. Why would Team Aqua want an Electrode? That's an electric type. They usually just steal water types."

"I was wondering that myself. Maybe we can ask him after we beat him up."

"Great, let's go! Lucario, return!" Josh called Lucario back into his pokéball. "Maybe we should ask around and see if anyone's seen him." We made our way off the beach and back into the city. We asked multiple people, and some of them said they'd seen a guy tearing through the streets as fast as he could, as if his life was on the line.

We were walking by the Pokémon Center when the doors opened and an Absol gleefully came sprinting out, skidded to a stop right in front of me, and started sniffing my shoe.

"Snowflake, stop that!" The voice was coming from inside the Pokémon Center. The Absol did a 180 and ran back behind the man that came out. He had short, sandy blonde hair, and was wearing a long black trench coat along with some circular glasses.

"Sorry about that, sir," the man said. He seemed to have a slight British accent.

"It's okay," Josh replied, and knelt down to pet the Absol. Absol seemed to like Josh. Or maybe she liked the smell of the pizza he'd had for lunch.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied. It occurred to me that he had a very measured, kindly manner of speaking. I couldn't figure out whether it was the kind of voice that would have you lie on a couch and ask about your troubles while he took notes and gave advice, or the kind of voice that would give a disconcertingly friendly description of how tasty your liver would be with fava beans.

"Have you seen a guy with a blue bandana and a striped black and white T-shirt run through here?"

"That I have, but he wasn't running until Snowflake ambushed him. She... didn't seem to like him much." I looked at the Absol, and noticed there was a piece of blue bandana in her mouth. Josh stood up and took a step back.

"Okay," Josh said, worried. "Does your Absol randomly attack people all the time?"

"Only if she doesn't like someone. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be." The man pivoted around on his heels and left, and me and Josh went the other way. We walked about 800 meters down the sidewalk, until we noticed a blue bandana on the ground. It had a bite mark in it and what possibly might have been bloodstains. We asked a passerby, who was looking down into a back alleyway.

"Yes," she said. "He ran down that way just a few seconds ago." Josh and I looked at each other, and slowly walked toward the back alley. We looked around the corner, trying to be inconspicuous, and saw the Aqua grunt talking to the team's administrator, Matt.

"It's Matt," I whispered. "I hate that guy." The Aqua grunt handed Matt a pokéball, and walked back and around a corner. The grunt turned and started walking towards us, but he didn't see us.

"Now!" Josh whispered, and we both revealed ourselves, blocking the way out of the back alley. He looked surprised, but didn't back up.

"What the heck do you kids want?"

"We want that kid's Electrode," Josh said, anger evident in his voice.

"Hah! Yeah, right. You'd best just leave while you still can." He grabbed two pokéballs. Josh grabbed one, too, while I grabbed Sceptile's.

"Go! Tentacruel and Mightyena!" He yelled, tossing his pokéballs into the air. I threw mine, and out came Sceptile. Josh threw his, sending out his Flareon.

"Okay, I'll take Tentacruel," I told Josh. "Sceptile has the advantage. You take out Mightyena."

"Got it," He replied. "Flareon, use fire blast!" Flareon spat a flaming star at Mightyena, then I turned my attention to Tentacruel.

"Tentacruel, use bind!" The grunt yelled, and Tentacruel reached out his tentacles, attempting to grab Sceptile.

"Sceptile, use leaf blade!" Sceptile slashed at every tentacle that came his way, and Tentacruel cried out in pain with every hit.

"Mightyena, use take down!" The grunt cried. He had to command two pokémon at once, which gave Josh and I an advantage. I looked over quickly and saw that Flareon was clobbering Mightyena, so I figured Josh didn't need any help.

"Sceptile, use solar beam!" All of the grunt's attention was on Mightyena, so Sceptile was able to charge up without interference. "Fire!" Sceptile let loose so powerful it blinded me for a second. The grunt didn't notice until after Tentacruel had been hit. Then he finally shifted his attention to Tentacruel.

"Tentacruel, get up! Now!" Tentacruel couldn't move. While the grunt was yelling at his Tentacruel, Josh took his opportunity.

"Flareon, iron tail!" Flareon's tail turned a shiny grey, and it spun around, hitting Mightyena in the side of the head. Mightyena collapsed on the ground, knocked out.

"Both of you, return! Why did I have to get such useless pokémon!" The grunt complained.

"Now, give us the Electrode," Josh threatened.

"Hah! I don't have it! Matt took it just before you attacked me, twerp!" Flareon jumped him, knocked him on the ground, and had it's paw at his throat, growling.

"Then why did you steal it? What did you need it for?"

"I-I don't even know! They don't t-tell me things like that!"

"Where did Matt go?" I asked, getting impatient. Flareon kept gowling.

"H-he said he was going to the Pokémon center to talk to Shelly!" He said, obvious fear in his voice.

"Flareon, return!" Josh called Flareon back into it's pokéball. "Get out of here. NOW." The grunt got up and ran off, as fast as he could.

"We need to get to the pokémon center," I said.

"No kidding." We ran as fast as we could to the pokémon center, hoping they weren't there already. They weren't. Since we were there, we took our pokémon to the front desk and asked or them to be healed.

"Take a seat, your pokémon will be ready shortly." It was just then that Shelly walked in. She went and sat in an isolated spot, at the end of a row of chairs. Luckily the row of chairs had another row behind it, and they were back to back. We went and sat down behind her, inconspicuously. We didn't say anything, we just pretended to rummage through our bags. Then Matt walked in.

He went and sat down next to Shelly.

"Took you long enough," She said.

"Yeah, well, I did have to take the back way," He snapped.

"Did you get the Electrode?"

"Yeah. The grunt I got it from said he took it from a little kid. Easy."

"Is it strong enough?"

"It'd better be." They both stopped talking, and I realized that they must've noticed we were there. Josh looked over, communicating that he noticed too.

"Sure takes a while for our pokémon to heal," I said, pretending we weren't listening.

"Yeah, it shouldn't take this long," Josh said, getting the idea. "I mean, they hardly got hurt at all!"

"Yeah." They resumed talking, once they thought they were sure we weren't listening. They were whispering now, so it was hard to hear.

"We should whisperwhisperwhisper back to Archie," Shelly said. Like I said, it was hard to hear.

"Yeah, whisperwhisper we whisper, Team Magma will finally be out of our hair!" Said Matt gleefully. They both got up and left.

"Your pokémon are ready!" Nurse Joy called.

"Thanks," Josh said, and we grabbed our pokémon and hurried out the door. We followed them cautiously out of the city. Once out of the city, we had to be extra careful and follow them from a great distance, because there wasn't a crowd to hide in anymore. Luckily, they never looked behind them. As we continued following, we saw Archie, Team Aqua's boss, standing a few meters away, waiting for them. Once they met up, we carefully crept up a bit more, remaining unseen. We got close enough to hear, then hid behind a tree.

"Do you have the pokémon?" Archie asked.

"One Electrode, just as you asked," Shelly said proudly, presenting the pokéball.

"Excellent. With this Electrode, we can finally carry out our objective."

"Excuse me, boss, but Shelly and I were never told our full plan. We just knew that somehow this Electrode would somehow destroy Team Magma." Matt said.

"Well then," Archie began to explain. Me and Josh looked at each other nervously. "Our last encounter with Team Magma, I had one of our grunts follow one of the members back to their base. The base, he discovered, is right inside the volcano, Mt. Chimney! Our man attacked the Magma weakling, and took some kind of emblem, apparently the key to getting inside the base. With this knowledge, we can invade the base, and have Electrode here use self destruct near the base of Mt. Chimney's lava pocket. Lava will flow everywhere, and destroy Team Magma completely! Of course, we would have our entire team evacuate first."

"But boss," Shelly began. "Wouldn't the lava reach Lavaridge Town, as well?"

"That doesn't matter. The puny lives of those people are nothing compared to the threat Team Magma poses. The plan will be executed at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. Now if you'll excuse me, we must go and get our men ready. It''s a long journey, even by hijacked submarine."

"Yes boss," Matt and Shelly said in unison. As soon as they were gone, Josh and I started talking.

"This is bad," I said. "Really really bad."

"All of those people would die! What do we do?"

"We have to beat Team Aqua there. We have to warn Team Magma they're coming, and fight them off before they can burst the lava pocket."

"Yeah, but how do we get Team Magma to believe us? They know who we are! They'd try to destroy us!"

"True, but we may not have any other choice. We can't let Team Aqua do this. Heh. To think this started with me wanting to help a little kid get his Electrode back. Charizard, come out!" Charizard emerged from his pokéball with a mighty roar. "Climb on. We need to get to Mt. Chimney ASAP."

Charizard took off with us on his back. It took a few hours, but he eventually landed again in Lavaridge town. It was 9:00 at night, so we were both really tired.

"Come back, Charizard," I said, then I yawned. "At least you can rest in your pokéball for now." Charizard yawned too, then got sucked back into his pokéball.

"As for us," Josh said. "We need to head for Mt. Chimney." It felt like a long walk, even just walking out of Lavaridge Town. After that, it felt even longer, my feet yelling at me to stop moving. We finally reached the bottom of the rocky path a 10 o' clock. It was the prospect of having to walk up that steep ledge that wade me even more weary. As we climbed up the ledges and maneuvered around the rocky terrain, I felt like Frodo making his way to Mordor. It felt even more like a Lord of the Rings scene when Josh said:

"Look, Daniel! The doorway!" We climbed up the last ledge and walked over to the door. It wasn't visible, but we still knew it was there. We beat on the "doorway" as hard as we could.

"Hellooooooo!" Josh and I called out at the top of our lungs. "Open up! Seriously! We know you're in there!" The door didn't open, but a tile above the door slid open, and a little TV screen popped out. Two Magma grunts were looking at us through the screen.

"What do you want, kids? Get lost!"

"For the love of-" I stopped myself, then continued. "Do you guys EVER say anything more original?" I shouted.

"That's not the point," Josh said. "We need to talk to Maxie."

"Hah! We don't even know you, you're obviously not Team Magma members, and you want to talk to da the boss? You've gotta be kidding me!"

"He knows us. A little too well, actually."

"He'll decide whether he wants to talk to you or not!" They sneered. The screen disappeared behind the rock. A few minutes later, it slid open, and the TV screen popped out again. This time, we were looking at Tabitha, the Magma Admin.

"What do you want, kids? Get-" I cut him off.

"Get lost, I know. What kind of name is "Tabitha", anyhow?"

"A man's name. I swear. Shut up."

"We're here to warn you. We need to talk to Maxie."

"Forget it, kid. You'll have to settle for me."

"Fine, whatever. We're here to warn you that Team Aqua knows where you guys are. And that they're going to attack you tomorrow, at 4:00. You guys had better be ready, because they've got an Electrode, and they're planning to burst the base of the volcano's lava pocket, destroying everything."

"Right. And I'm a Team Aqua member in disguise," He said sarcastically. "You kids get out of here, and never show your faces around here again. Why would you warn us about this? Wouldn't you rather see us destroyed?"

"Yeah, well, we kinda care about the people living in Lavaridge," Josh snapped.

"You have five seconds," Tabitha warned. "Before we let out a squad of Mightyena." Me and Josh turned to walk away.

"Great. Now what?" I said.

"We can only hope that they take us seriously," Josh said. "Then we sneak into their base tomorrow, and make sure that lava pocket doesn't get blown."

"I hope we can actually pull it off," I said. "Or else we aren't going to make it out of there alive, and neither is anyone else."

We walked back to the Pokémon Center, our legs aching. When we finally made it back at about 11:30 at night, we walked in and requested a room.

"Sorry, she said, all the rooms have been taken. You're welcome to stay inside for the night, though, if you can find a place to sleep," the nurse said sympathetically.

"Just great," I said, and we went and flopped down on the couches.

I awoke the next morning at nine a.m, ready to go back to the Magma base. We went and got some food first, though. Walking out of the restaurant, Josh asked:

"So, how do we get inside?"

"We wait for a Magma grunt to walk over, then we mug him and take his emblem."

"Good plan." We walked back to Mt. Chimney, climbing ledges, climbing over huge rocks, slipping, falling, and generally just having a bad time, like before. When we finally got there, we had to wait until about 2:00 in the afternoon, when a Magma grunt came walking over. Blaziken was already out of his pokéball, ready to jump the guy.

Blaziken was on top of him before he even had time to grab a pokéball. The guy screamed, then was quiet as I heard Blaziken smack him upside the head. Blaziken dragged him over into the bushes.

josh let out his Lucario before we entered. When the camouflaged stone door slid open, we were ready, but the guards weren't.

"Blaziken, brick break!"

Lucario, close combat!" The guys were out cold. We took their clothes.

It made me feel like a scumbag, but it was necessary if we wanted to fit in. We hid those guys in the bushes, too, then hung around at the front door pretending to be them.

After about an hour, two guys came over.

"Hey, shift's over. You guys go take guard duty over by the lava pocket."

"Okay," I responded. That was fortunate. We walked off, then I stopped.

"Hey guys, I lost my map. Where's the lava pocket again?"

"Over my Maxie's office." That was even more fortunate. Once we made it over there, we waited for about three hours, until it was finally four o' clock in the afternoon. The grunts weren't moving, nothing frantic was going on.

"I guess they didn't take our warning seriously," Josh said sadly.

"That will definitely make things more difficult," I said back.

I heard something explode, far away. I was guessing it was the front door. The alarm sounded. Red lights flashing, sirens going off, people sprinting everywhere, and me and Josh stood our ground. Maxie came out of his office.

"What in Groudon's name is going on?" I knew he'd recognize us instantly, so I didn't bother faking.

"You know what," I said. "Team Aqua is here."

"How do you know-" He stopped when he laid his eyes on me. "-You... You were telling the truth? How did you get in here?"

"We walked."

"You won't be walking for long!"

"Maxie!" A voice from behind Maxie and I bellowed. It was Archie, and behind him were somewhere around 20 to 30 Team Aqua grunts, all with Mightyena and Sharpedo by their side. "Your opposition towards us is over, Maxie!"

"Archie! How did you-"

"We followed one of your grunts! Probably the same way these jerk kids got in here!" He looked at me and Josh. "How did you two know about this?"

"You told us," Josh said slyly. "You just didn't realize it."

"You mean, you were there?" He said in shock.

"Right behind the tree, genius." Josh said, laying the sarcasm on thick.

By now, lots of Magma grunts had gathered behind the Aqua grunts, ready for battle.

"Team Magma!" Maxie yelled. "Attack!" Suddenly, everything turned to chaos. It was an unstoppable pokémon brawl.

"Archie!" Maxie called. "We may be enemies, but perhaps we can get rid of these meddlesome kids first!"

"I'm not on your side, Maxie. But the only two people I hate more than you are these two!"

A Mightyena flew between me and Josh, separating us. Suddenly, I found myself confronted by an Arcanine. It was Maxie's.

I grabbed Chariziard's pokéball and threw it.

"Chariziard!" I called. "ready?" Charizard roared. I knew he was ready.

"Arcanine, use fire fang!" Arcanine's fangs flared up, and it began to run towards Charizard. This was going to be difficult, because Charizard couldn't fly in a cave.

"Charizard, flame thrower!" Charizard threw up a huge blast of flames, which completely immersed Arcanine. Luckily, this Arcanine's ability was intimidate, not flash fire.

"Arcanine, use will o' wisp!" Arcanine spat out a blast of blue flames, which hit Charizard dead on.

"Charizard, hang on!" Charizard was burned, which wasn't good. I had to take out Arcanine and withdraw Charizard as fast as I could.

On the other side of me, I saw Josh's Bayleef chucking leaves at Archie's Kingdra. I hoped he was doing okay.

"Charizard, use slash!" Charizard rose off the ground, flying quickly towards Arcainine.

"Arcanine, extremespeed!" This all happened in about half a second. Arcanine ran right below Charizard, and jumped up, hitting him in the jaw. Charizard was thrown off balance, flying right into a wall.

"Charizard!" I called desperately. He took burn damage. My mind raced. "Use flamethrower!" I was desperate, and it had worked before. Charizard spat out more flames at Arcanine. Once again, Arcanine was shrouded in fire.

"Arcanine! Use dig!" Arcanine dug a hole and jumped in.

"Charizard! use slash!" Arcanine jumped up through a new hole and slashed Charizard across the face, but Charizard didn't even flinch. He simply struck Arcanine back, with an even more powerful blow. Then he took more burn damage and collapsed. Arcanine was on the ground, too, and it wasn't moving either.

We withdrew our pokémon. The next pokémon I sent out was Raichu, and he sent out Torkoal. This couldn't be too hard, could it?

Suddenly, Bayleef flew in between Raichu and Torkoal, gritting it's teeth.

"You ok?" I asked Josh.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Torkoal, use flamethrower!"

"Raichu, thunder!" Torkoal shot a beam of fire, while Raichu shot a beam of sparkling electricity. When they met, thunder easily overpowered flamethrower, slicing right through it, leaving nothing but smoke behind. The lightning bolt kept on going until it reached Torkoal, who cried out in agony.

"Now, follow up with thunderpunch!" While Torkoal was still cringing from the electricity, Raichu ran over and belted Torkoal right in the jaw with a crackling, electrifying uppercut. Torkoal went flying backwards, and fell on it's back at Maxie's feet, unmoving.

"Torkoal, you worthless piece of junk!" Torkoal was absorbed back into it's pokéball. "Maybe you'll serve me better. Camerupt! Go!" Camerupt erupted from it's pokéball, shaking the ground as it landed. This was not a good match up. Raichu was weak to ground. I saw no reason for Raichu to stay in this.

"Raichu, get back." I recalled Raichu back into his pokéball. "Go, Blaziken!" Blaziken materialized with a flash, his wrists flaring up the minute he laid his eyes on Camerupt. I knew fire wasn't a good match against ground either, but it was better than Luxray, Sceptile, and Scizor, who had even bigger disadvantages. "Blaziken, brick break!" Blaziken sprinted over to Camerupt, not even slowing down as he got close. Using his momentum, he slammed Camerupt in the jaw with a bone shattering punch. I could even hear it, it was so powerful.

"Camerupt, earthquake!" I knew this was coming. Camerupt jumped up, then shook the ground violently as it came back down. Archie's Huntail and Josh's Swampert both suffered for it, too. Blaziken took the most out of it.

"Blaziken, stay strong! Use brick break again, back to back!" Blaziken, being right next to Camerupt, slammed another fist into his jaw, then a second, right on the top of his skull. Camerupt's legs gave way under the force of brick break, and he fell to the ground.

"Camerupt, return! Can't any of my pokémon be useful here?" Maxie complained. "Go! Magmortar!"

"Time to switch back to my original battle plan." I thought. "Blaziken, come back!" I retrieved Blaziken back into his pokéball. "Get back out there, Raichu!" Raichu's cheeks sparked, I could tell he was eager for another fight. "Use Thunder!" Raichu's cheeks looked like they exploded, releasing crazy amounts of energy, sending it all spiraling towards Magmortar.

"Dodge and use fire punch!" Magmortar dropped, his back hitting the ground as the massive amounts of electricity passed over him. Then, he kicked himself up, and with a flaming fist, ran over to Raichu.

"Raichu!" I commanded. "Counter it with thunderpunch!" Raichu's fist sparked, and their two fists collided, causing an explosion of massive proportions. When the smoke cleared, they were both standing, but I could tell Raichu had caught the worst of it. He was struggling to keep to his feet.

"Magmortar! Use fire blast!" Maxie yelled, and out of Magmortar's cannon, he released a huge fiery star shaped blast, headed for Raichu.

"Raichu, use your tail to dodge!" I yelled, but Raichu was too tired. Not being able to get out of the way, Raichu took a huge hit to the torso, and fell over on the ground, his eyes squinted shut.

"Raichu, return! Awesome job!" I called back Raichu, then picked out Luxray's pokéball. "Go! Luxray! Magmortar's weak, let's finish him off!" Luxray looked eager for battle, too; his tail wagging wildly.

"Luxray, thunderbolt!" Luxray let loose a bolt of electricity so fast I didn't even have time to say 'wow, that was fast!'. The bolt of lightning coursed through the air, quickly finding it's way to Magmortar, who didn't even have time to say ow. He fell over on the ground, not moving.

"Grah!" Maxie yelled. "How can you be so adept at handling pokémon?" He called back Magmortar, then threw yet another pokéball. Out of it came an Infernape. "You may have defeated my last four easily enough," He sneered. "but you have yet to see the true power of my pokémon!"

"Luxray! Double team, multiple times!" I said, ignoring Maxie's threats.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Butterfree battling Archie's Gyarados. I still wondered how he was doing.

Meanwhile, Luxray had split into about 30 different copies. Infernape was looking confused.

"Infernape! Hit them all!" Maxie screamed, obviously growing angry. Infernape's fists glowed, and it started using mach punch, quickly eliminating the fake Luxrays.

"Luxray! Use thunderbolt!" A burst of lightning exploded around the real Luxray, but Infernape saw it coming. He did a backflip over the thunderbolt, landing right behind Luxray, and finally, landing a solid mach punch right on poor Luxray's back. I called to Luxray. "Use iron tail!" Luxray whipped his tail up, shining a metal grey, but Infernape leaned back, easily avoiding the attack, and belted Luxray with another mach punch. Luxray didn't have time to respond, and Infernape kept hitting him with mach punch after mach punch, eventually knocking Luxray out.

"Luxray, return!" Luxray was absorbed by his pokéball, and I threw Scizor's. Scizor looked worried, being pitted against a fire/flying type. "Scizor, it'll be okay, as long as you're fast. I need that speed you're always impressing me with, okay?" Scizor nodded. "Great, then use wing attack!" Scizor sped down the battlefield, quickly eating up the distance between him and Infernape. So quickly, in fact, that Maxie didn't have time to give Infernape orders. That, however, did not stop Infernape. Infernape ducked under Scizor's wing attack, and, after Scizor flew into the wall, spat a flamethrower at him. "Scizor!" I called, as Scizor sat there, calling out to me, expressing it's pain. "Scizor!" I called. I couldn't think of anything to do, and before I knew it, Infernape was on top of Scizor, and hit him with a blazing fire punch. Scizor was out cold, or warm. Bad pun. Sorry.

"That's what I'm talking about, Infernape!" Maxie said, grinning. I called back Scizor and sent out Sceptile. If anyone could dodge Infernape's attacks, it was Sceptile.

"Sceptile, use focus punch!"

"Flamethrower!" Sceptile's fist began to glow, and Infernape spat a flamethrower at him. I closed my eyes, protecting them from the heat of the flamethrower. When I looked back, Sceptile was right below Infernape, and punched him right below the jaw, sending flat on his back. "Infernape!" Maxie yelled with rage. "Use mach punch!"

"Sceptile, use focus punch again!" Infernape kicked himself up and released a flurry of punches aimed at Sceptile's head. Sceptile dodged every one. He ducked. He leaned. He sidestepped. He blocked. He jumped. When Infernape finally got tired, Sceptile unleashed his focus punch right into the side of Infernape's head. Infernape hit the ground, and didn't get back up. "Awesome job, Sceptile!" I said, ver impressed with my pokémon. Maxie shrieked and called back his Infernape.

"Go, Houndoom!" He bellowed, as he chucked his last pokéball. "Use Inferno!" Sceptile surprisingly, didn't have time to move. That was one fast Houndoom. Sceptile fell on the ground, burned.

"Sceptile!" I called, and Sceptile, with some effort, pushed itself to it's feet. "Sceptile, giga drain!" I commanded, and Sceptile released from the bulbs on it's neck innumerable vines, which wrapped themselves around Houndoom.

"Houndoom, pull him in and use flamethrower!" Houndoom, with severe strength, jerked and pulled Sceptile forward. Once Sceptile was that much closer, Houndoom spat a blast of flames at Sceptile, hitting him right in the chest. Sceptile collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

"Good job Sceptile!" I called as I retrieved my fallen pokémon. Now, go! Blaziken!" I figured this would be a walk in the park, with Blaziken knowing brick break and Houndoom being a part dark type. I told myself to watch out for Houndoom's speed though. "Blaziken, whatever you do, don't miss. It might just cost you the fight." I warned. Blaziken turned and nodded, acknowledging me. "Now, use brick break!" It was the only move I could use, since Houndoom's ability was flash fire.

"Houndoom, flamethrower!" Houndoom spat another burst of flames at Blaziken, and they caught him right in the chest, just like Sceptile.

"Blaziken!" He was completely immersed, so I couldn't see him. I couldn't see anything but a cackling ball of fire. I was seriously worried that Blaziken had been defeated. He had already taken a tough blow from Camerupt. Then, he jumped right out of the flames, so high and so fast, my eyes couldn't even follow him. He rebounded off the ceiling, just for a split second as not to fall, but pushed himself off to give him extra momentum. coming down at amazing speeds, his fist crashed into Houndoom's jaw like a meteor crashing into a mountain. I think it was safe to say that that was a critical hit. More than that, given Blaziken's extra momentum, Houndoom was already down and out with just one hit. Maxie screamed with rage, falling to his knees. I ran to Blaziken, then looked over at Josh.

"Bayleef, use magical leaf!" He commanded, and Bayleef swung the leaf on it's head, releasing multicolored leaves, slicing into the enemy Electrode, knocking it unconscious.

"What?" Archie cried. "That Electrode was utterly useless!"

"And you may leave now, along with all your grunts." Josh said.

"But... No..." Archie moaned. Then he got up and tried regaining his dignity.

He failed.

"Team Aqua! It is time to leave!" He quickly ran off, with all his grunts following him. Tabitha and Rachel turned to me, looking as if they were going to direct their Mightyena to attack.

"I wouldn't to that," I warned. "With my Blaziken's fist raised above your boss's head."

"Our goal was only to prevent team Aqua from destroying this volcano," Josh explained. "along with all of Lavaridge Town. Our only demand now, in exchange for your boss's life, is that you let us leave." Them, along with the Magma grunts, all backed off, clearing a path for us to leave. We walked cautiously toward the doorway, and once we reached the end, I called back Blaziken, and we quickly ran off, back towards Lavaridge Town. Walking back, we talked.

"So, saving an entire town?" I asked. "How does it feel?"

"I've done stuff like that too many times," He replied smugly. "I just hope Team Magma is smart enough to relocate now that Team Aqua knows where their hideout is."

"Yeah," I said. It was about Nine o' clock p.m by now. "So, what say we stay another night at the Pokémon Center?" I asked.

"Sounds good! Then what?"

"I was thinking about going to Evergrande City to prepare for the Hoenn Championships coming up in a few weeks."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea! I heard Nick was going there, too!"

"Did he tell you?"

"Yeah, he called me."

"We should stop by Lilycove again on the way, though, I need to drop off the kid's Electrode."

"Heh, I can't believe that's what started all this."

"Hey, if I wasn't nice enough to stop and ask what's wrong, we probably never would have heard about Team Aqua's plan."

"Good thing you're a nice guy."

"Yeah."

And with that, Josh and I spent another night at the Pokémon Center, not even beginning to know what would be happening at the annual Hoenn competition.


	3. BomberRocket Ferry!

It was about five hours after Josh and I woke up that we landed in front of the Pokémon Center in Lilycove City.

"When does the next Ferry come in?" I asked him.

"I think about an hour," He replied. "It's lunch time, anyway." We went and ate. Not much to tell you about that, except that the food tasted like cardboard. (Never going back to that restaurant.)

"Okay, so we still have 15 minutes, what do you say we-hey!" Josh looked at the guy who bumped into him, but the guy kept going.

"Sorry." He said simply, walking quickly, as if he were in a rush.

"Anyway," Josh continued. "Why don't we just walk over there now? It's about 15 minutes away." We walked over there, but the ferry still wasn't there yet. It was foggy, so we didn't see it coming in until it was about 400 meters away. The foghorn blew, and the Captain stepped out a bellowed:

"ALL ABOARD!" Everybody started shuffling into a line. Unfortunately, this was an overnight trip, so it would cost a lot. After about five minutes, we finally reached the front of the line.

"I'll take your pokémon, please." The lady asked politely. It was standard to give up your pokémon when boarding a ship, kind of the same way you get checked at airport security before boarding a plane. It's been the policy ever since some kid clobbered the entire crew in battles one at a time, and then the people that lost the battles didn't have enough money left to pay for their dinner afterwards. The primary reason was the sinking of said ship after someone's Camerupt used Earthquake the next day during a rematch. These people didn't search us, though, which I thought a little strange.

We got on, and entered our room.

"So, what now? I asked.

"I don't know, look around?" He said.

"Sure." Suddenly, the ship jerked, the foghorn blew, and the ferry began moving. We got out, and surprisingly, not many people were actually out walking around. We walked over to the railing and let the sea air blow on our faces. It felt nice and cool. I could see Tentacool swimming beneath the water, which was really clear. Then a Goldeen jumped out of the water, like a dolphin, followed by a Remoraid. The wind was blowing really hard now, because we were moving a lot faster. The fog horn blew again.

Suddenly, a gust of wind flew in and snatched my hat.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. My hat flew a little ways, not very far, in fact, until it fell into the hands of a familiar character.

"Here." He said, abruptly. It was the same guy that bumped into Josh before, by the Pokémon Center. He was wearing a red and white hat, with medium length black hair coming down to exactly eye level. He wore a red short sleeved jacked, with white sleeves and a white collar. It was unbuttoned, with a black T-shirt underneath. He wore blue jeans and black fingerless gloves, as well. The thing that really caught my attention, though, was that he had red eyes.

"Thanks," I said, taking my hat. "what's your name?" He looked me over, not showing much emotion.

"Red." He said. Then, obviously not looking for a conversation, turned and left. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something really mysterious about him.

"Talkative guy!" Josh said sarcastically.

"Yeah." I said, my mind somewhere else.

We went back to our room, and essentially just sat and talked for two hours. We came back out, out of sheer boredom.

"When do we get there?" Josh asked in a bored voice. I checked my pokénav.

"About three in the morning..." I replied with a groan.

"Great." Then, suddenly, we heard screams coming from the back of the ship. We ran over, to find one guy on the floor, with a Poochyena standing on him, growling. The trainer looked angry.

"I'll teach you to look at me funny!" He bellowed. Then suddenly, a Hitmonchan jumped in and belted the Poochyena off the guy's chest. The Poochyena was obviously a weak pokémon, because it was already knocked out. Then two guards ran in and grabbed the trainer's arms.

"Well done, Hitmonchan." Came a voice from around the corner, at the back of the ship. The man who walked out I could recognize instantly as the ship's captain. He was wearing a sailor's cap, and a navy blue jacket. He looked about in his 20's. Even with the cap, it was easy to tell he had blood red hair. "Return. Sir, you have obviously broken the rule of turning in your pokémon, like you were told."

"Well, I don't take orders from snotty jerks like you!" The two guards hauled him off, I don't know where too.

"Now, my guests." The captain turned to the people who were watching the incident. "Please don't be worried by what you just witnessed. There will be no more problems, I assure you. Just a reminder that curfew is at 10 o' clock tonight, please don't be out of your rooms past then."

Me and Josh headed back to our rooms. It was about 7:00, so we just dug through our back packs, looking for something to eat, then talked for another two hours.

"Well, I'm getting tired," Josh said. "Goodnight."

"I can't get it out of my head!" I said finally. "I've been to Evergrande

City so many times, and they never set a curfew before."

"It's not the first time it's happened to me," Josh said. "it's just so people won't go around at night and steal things."

"Yeah, I guess you're right goodnight, then." We flipped off the lights and went to sleep.

I woke with a start, then checked my pokénav. It was 1:00 in the morning. I went over to Josh and shook him.

"Josh, get up." I whispered.

"What...?" He mumbled. Then he rolled over and woke up completely. "What is it?"

"I don't know, something woke me up," I said. "let's go outside."

We opened the door slowly and cautiously. We knew if we were caught, we might get hauled off like that guy with the Poochyena, which worried me. We stepped slowly, trying not to make any noise. We walked around the corner, but we didn't see anything. I looked behind me, making sure no one was there. Then we heard footsteps behind us. If we ran, it would definitely give us away. There was nowhere to hide. We back up, waited for what seemed like minutes, although it was only a few seconds. We saw a foot, then the entire body emerged around the corner. It was Red. He stared at us with those red eyes of his, the walked over to us. We din't move. He grabbed me by the front of the collar and pulled me up close to him.

"What are you doing out?" He whispered angrily.

"Well, what are you?" I whispered back. Josh was leaning in, trying to hear our conversation. Red let go of me.

"Come on," he whispered cautiously. "we need to talk somewhere safer." He took us back to his room, opened the door, and pushed us inside.

"All right." I started. "What's going on?"

"I'd ask you the same question," He replied. "But I'm already guessing something woke you up, too?"

"Footsteps," I said. "Probably yours."

"Probably," He said. "but I was awoken by a faint beeping sound below the floor. Listen." Me and Josh lowered our heads to the floor, and I could hear it. It was so quiet it was almost subliminal, but I could hear it. "Beep. Beep. Beep." I got back up.

"What is that?" Josh asked.

"That's what I was trying to figure out." Red said, concerned.

He walked back over to the door, and pressed his ear against it. We all heard footsteps go by, then we waited about 10 seconds after they faded away.

"Let's go." Red said. Red quickly darted out, Josh and I right behind him. When we came out, there was a long line of rooms to both sides of Red's, so we went right, the direction we heard the footsteps were coming from. The footsteps were probably a guard making their rounds, so we went in the same direction, making sure we didn't meet. We kept going around the loop as quietly as we could, until we reached what looked like a camouflaged trap door, right in front of the room that was directly across from Red's. Red bent down, slipped his fingers through the crack, and lifted the door open.

"Any volunteers?" Josh asked.

"I'll go." I said, with extreme courage.

"We'll wait here, and keep watch." Red told me. I nodded, then went to head down the stairs. The entire place was completely dark, with no visible light switch. The I heard the beeping. It was the same beep, but louder. Obviously in the room. I followed the sound, feeling my way against the wall, until I came around a corner. I looked and saw glowing red lights. They said 15:32. No wait, 15:31. No wait, 15:30.

"Oh, please no." I thought to myself as I slowly walked my way up to the device, feeling to make sure I wouldn't trip. I knelt down and peered closely at the lowering number. With every beep, the numbers went down. It was a timer. I put my hand down next to them, feeling a cold metal surface. I ran my fingers further down the object, it was in the shape of a cylinder. Towards the end of the object, I felt something that felt like metal fins or something.

My heart leapt. I realized it was a bomb. I timed bomb, that was about to go off in exactly 15 minutes and three - no, two - seconds.

I stood up, preparing to run back to tell Josh and Red, when I heard a crash upstairs. Then, as I ran forward, I tripped. I hit my jaw on something hard, I couldn't tell what it was. Then I carefully felt my way back to the entrance. I ran up, and saw Josh and Red, confronted by two of the ferry's guards. I wasn't paying attention at the time, but later I noticed that Josh had out his Bayleef, and Red had out an Espeon. I didn't know how or why they kept their pokémon.

"Guys! Downstairs! A bomb!" I yelled, panicked.

Red shot me an "Okay, what do we do?" Look. Then he told me, "Go find a light-switch at all costs. Disarm it if you can, Josh and I will take these guys out and evacuate!" I went back down, frantically feeling the wall for a light, but couldn't find one. An explosion from the battle outside gave me a brief light, and I saw a hook hanging from the ceiling. I ran over and pulled it as hard as I could, and everything suddenly became clear.

It was a bomb, sure enough. It was sitting there, ticking, like it was going to enjoy going off and killing us all. Then I looked further and noticed stacked trays of pokéballs. I marked my pokéballs, thankfully, so it wasn't hard to find mine. I grabbed them all, strapped them to my belt, and put them on. Then I ran over to the bomb. I didn't even have a screwdriver, and it didn't look like having one would help. 13:42.

"Well, well. Looks like someone just couldn't sleep, could they?" I looked behind me, and saw the captain, with a black pokéball in his hand.

"What's going on, here?" I demanded.

"Isn't it obvious?" He said, as if I just asked what the answer to two plus two was. "We take the pokémon, load them on the ship, and sail away as the ship explodes, leaving no one to describe the people who stole them. It's that simple."

"Yeah, but what would some random sea captain want with a huge assortment of pokémon?" I asked.

"Someone who's not some random sea captain." He replied deviously. He grabbed his navy blue jacket and tore it off, revealing a black long sleeved uniform with a red R logo on the front.

"Team Rocket. Of course." My face felt red. I wanted to tear this guy's arms off and throw him to the Sharpedo. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," He said, calmly, almost like an executive who was trying to get his client to buy something. "My name is Jake, Team Rocket's one and only second in command." His short and spiked up blood red hair gave me the idea he was some kind of maniac.

"Great, so you mind telling me who's your first in command?" I asked angrily.

"Actually yes, I do mind. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take out your pokémon and kill you now. Go, Seviper!" He threw his black Rocket logo'd pokéball. Out came Seviper. I grabbed Sceptile's pokéball and threw it. I decided I'd make the first move, it was crucial that I won this.

"Sceptile, leaf blade!" The blades on the end of Sceptile's arms glowed, and he hurdled himself at Seviper, landing a dead on hit to the neck.

"Seviper, use poison fang!" Seviper got up, hissing. It's fangs glowed bright purple, and it hurled itself back at Sceptile.

"Sceptile, use focus punch!" I commanded. Seviper leaped at Sceptile and aimed it's bite for his neck, but Sceptile jumped about a meter back, and by now his focus punch was charged. Seviper was in clear range, and Sceptile slammed his white, glowing fist into the side of Seviper's head.

"No! Get up! Get up you worthless reptile!" Seviper got back up. I would have to hit him a lot more, because none of Sceptile's moves were very effective.

"Sceptile! Use leaf blade!" Sceptile cut horizontally at Seviper, who coiled, ducked, launched back up like like a spring and bit Sceptile in the arm with a poison fang. Luckily, Sceptile wasn't poisoned. "Sceptile, leaf blade again!" Seviper was still hanging on to Sceptile's arm with it's teeth, leaving it wide open for attack. Sceptile slashed it right off with a devastating leaf blade. Seviper rebounded off the ground, finally looking a tad tired.

"Seviper! Use bind!" Seviper extended the tip of it's tail, wrapping it a little around Sceptile's foot before he could jump. Then, having a hold, coiled up and wrapped around Sceptile completely.

"Sceptile, giga drain!" I yelled, and vines shot out from the bulbs on Sceptile's neck, attaching themselves to Seviper. Then I could see the energy begin to transfer from Seviper to Sceptile. Seviper weakened it's grip. "Sceptile, now use focus punch!" Sceptile's fist started glowing again, and with Seviper's grip weakened, broke free and belted Seviper square in the side of the head again. This time, Seviper didn't get back up. Jake started letting loose with every swear word he could think of, including several that I don't think were really words, while at the same time retrieving Seviper.

"Take this freaking Sceptile out, Crobat!" He screamed. "Use wing attack!" Crobat flew with great speed at Sceptile, who took a hit to the face. I figured this Crobat was way faster than Seviper, because Seviper could barely land a single hit on Sceptile.

"Sceptile, leaf blade!" I called. Sceptile charged Crobat, who simply flew up and out of reach of Sceptile.

"Air slash!" Jake commanded. Crobat, not moving from it's position high up, flapped it's wings once in Sceptile's direction, creating a blade of air that caught Sceptile in the chest. Sceptile was obviously having a tough time, I knew flying was super effective against grass, as was poison. I didn't know if he could take another hit.

"Sceptile, giga drain!" Sceptile released the vines from the bulbs on it's neck, and aimed them for Crobat.

"Dodge and use wing attack!" Crobat flew to the right, easily avoiding the giga drain attack. It flew down quickly, while Sceptile was retrieving the vines, and whacked him in the face with it's wing. Sceptile cried out and hit the floor, struggled to push himself up, and fell back to the floor, unconscious.

"Sceptile, come back!" I called.

"Slamm-o-ramma-ding-a-ling, sucker!" Jake laughed in a maniacal voice. I threw Raichu's pokéball.

"Thunder!" I yelled angrily. Raichu's cheeks exploded into a blast of yellow electricity, which sped down towards an enemy Crobat. I figured with Raichu's power and Crobat's type disadvantage, I would only need one or two hits. Crobat flew to the left and dodged, then flapped it's wings, sending a blade of air twirling across towards Raichu. Raichu took the air slash and skidded back a little, but he didn't lose his balance. Raichu definitely had the advantage here.

"Crobat, air slash, constant!" Crobat flapped his wings continuously, sending a flurry of spiraling air blades hurdling towards Raichu.

"Raichu, dodge!" I called, and Raichu started jumping forward, dodging the blades, while at the same time closing the distance between him and Crobat. Raichu eventually took a hit, though, which was followed by many others. Raichu was on the ground after taking so many hits, but got up with some effort. "Use thunderpunch!" Raichu's fist sizzled with electricity, he jumped at Crobat. Raichu raised his left fist, and Crobat flew swiftly to the right. However, Raichu didn't strike with his left fist, but his right, sending a jolt of electricity jolting through Crobat's body. Crobat flew around aimlessly for a little while, crashing into walls, and eventually recovered.

"Crobat, use cross poison!" Crobat's wings glowed purple, and it flew over to Raichu. It crossed its wings, covering it's face, then uncrossed them, in the process slashing Raichu with both of it's wings. Raichu fell to the ground, but rebounded off his tail, keeping himself on his feet. Raichu convulsed violently, and I knew instantly he was poisoned. I had to finish this now.

"Raichu, volt tackle!" I called. A huge mass of electricity exploded with sheer power around Raichu, who hurdled himself at Crobat. Crobat flew into the air, dodging the attack. Raichu crashed shoulder first into the ground, the electricity around him fizzling out. Raichu didn't get back up. "Raichu, good fight." I said, and retrieved him.

"Aw yeah! You need some ice for that burn, loozah?" Jake taunted, then laughed maniacally again. Then I threw Luxray's pokéball. After the thunderpunch, I knew another hit would take Crobat out.

"Air slash!"

"Double team!" Crobat flapped it's wings again and sent a blade of air spiraling down at Luxray. Luxray multiplied itself numerous times, the blade futilely hitting one of the numerous copies. "Luxray, use thunder!" I yelled, and the real Luxray exploded with electricity, sending it all shooting off in a mass attack of power. The electricity all shot right into Crobat, who, smoking, fell to the ground.

"Curse you Crobat!" Jake yelled, and called him back. "Destroy them all, Shiftry! Use razor leaf!" Shifty swung it's arms, the leaves on the ends unlatching themselves. As new leaves regrew, the dispatched leaves flew, twirling at Luxray. Luxray couldn't dodge, and took the hit head-on. He skidded back a little.

"Luxray, iron tail!" I yelled. Luxray jumped at Shiftry and swung it's tail horizontally, easily connecting with Shiftry's torso. Shiftry cringed and stepped back.

"Shiftry, use faint attack!" Shiftry disappeared and quickly reappeared behind Luxray, and smacked the back of his head with it's leafy hand. Luxray stepped forward in response to the force, then, not waiting for a command, swung another iron tail, this time at Shiftry's head, connecting once again. Shiftry fell backwards, landing on it's back, then got back up. "Use leaf storm!" Jake screamed. A huge wind whirled around Shiftry, many leaves spinning inside it. It extended to Luxray, who, caught up in it, flew around in circles. When it wore off, it sent him tumbling into a wall. He didn't move. I withdrew Luxray, then threw Charizard's pokéball. I noticed that Jake only had three Rocket balls on his belt, which meant he only had three pokémon.

"Charizard, lets finish this! Use flamethrower!" Charizard threw up a blast of flames at Shiftry, who, not waiting for a command, used faint attack to disappear and dodge the attack. It reappeared behind Charizard, and smacked him in the back of the head. Charizard, being big and heavy, didn't move, just winced as the attack slapped him in the head. Then he turned around and slapped Shiftry back with his wing, which made contact with Shiftry's full body. Shiftry fell back on the ground, and with a huge struggle, got up off the ground. It looked to tired to walk. I don't know what, but something festered inside me, probably my feelings of resentment towards Jake, enticing me to bring a cruel end to the battle. I only just saw the guy, but I could already tell what kind of enemy he was. He had no priorities and no sense of why he was doing what he was doing. Or just no sense period. Probably the second.

"Charizard, use blast burn!" I yelled. Charizard's entire body was shrouded in a coat of flame, which expanded quickly, eventually reaching Shiftry, who screamed with pain, falling to the floor, the leaves on it's hands on fire. Charizard fell to his knees, recovering from using the attack.

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!" Jake shrieked. He sounded like Luke Skywalker, except that his voice scaled up and down a few octaves more than once. I ignored him, quickly retrieved Charizard, and ran back upstairs. All I saw were people scrambling back and forth, people carrying life boats to the sides, and people randomly jumping over the sides, screaming. The fire alarm had sounded. I ran through the crowds aimlessly for what seemed like forever, eventually running into Red.

"I can't disarm it," I said. "and it goes off in three minutes!"

"Doesn't matter," He said back. "We need to get these people off the ship. Follow me!" Red got two other strangers to follow us, and we ran back downstairs. "Everybody grab two bags of pokéballs," He directed. "luckily, whoever these guys were, they already bagged up the pokémon for us." We all grabbed two bags full of pokéballs, and ran upstairs. We had two minutes. When we ran back up, we tossed a lifeboat overboard, sending it crashing into the water. We tossed the pokéballs into it after it settled.

"You guys go, I told Red. I'll check to see if anyone was left behind." I saw Jake run by and dive overboard, yelling.

"Coming through, jerks!" He yelled, and plummeted over the railing.

"Was that guy wearing a Team Rocket uniform?" Red asked.

"It doesn't matter," I said. "Just go!"

"Hurry up." Red told me, then jumped off with the two other guys and rowed off. I ran around and checked inside windows, making sure no one was left behind. I ran back downstairs. One minute. Then I noticed Shiftry, Laying on the ground,

"Why you selfish jerk." I thought to myself about Jake. I looked around for his pokéball, and saw it lying on the ground next to him. I quickly retrieved him, and looked back at the timer. 20 seconds.

I sprinted as fast as I could, just barely making it over the railing. I was in the water, and I heard the loudest boom I'd ever heard before in my life. Everything went black.

I awoke with the sun in my eyes. Everything was fuzzy, and it was all vibrating, too. I heard an echoing voice, but I couldn't make it out. Then I felt something wet and sticky moving across my face. My vision slowly focused and noticed it was a tongue, licking my face. A tongue which belonged to a certain Absol. An Absol who's trainer I recognized.

"Wha-What the heck?" I moaned. I coughed violently, spitting up a whole bunch of water. I sat up, and looked at a rather soggy Absol and it's trainer. It was the same guy we asked about Team Aqua, whose Absol had attacked the grunt that stole the Electrode. He looked down at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh look, Snowflake. He's awake. I do believe we've met him before, too."

"Where, am I?" I asked.

"Evergrande City. Snowflake dragged you back to shore, and now that I've patched up your more serious injuries, I'd say it's about time to take you to a hospital." I felt my ribs ache, and I coughed again. My head felt like it was going to split in two.

"That might not be such a bad idea." I managed to say, breathlessly. I looked at myself, and noticed that all my clothes were ripped and torn, and I had a burn mark on my left forearm. I touched it gingerly. It hurt extremely badly.

"Definitely not a bad idea." I managed again. The guy let my pokémon out of their pokéballs and started giving them food. If I hadn't been so delirious, I'd have sworn there was a Mew sitting on my chest. I felt my vision go blurry, then blacked out again.


	4. Hoenn Championships, Round One!

I awoke in a bed in what seemed to be a hospital room. At first I wondered where I was, then everything rushed back to me. I figured the guy with the Absol must have taken me here. There was a nurse standing beside me with short brown hair and green eyes. She looked surprised, as if she had never seen a guy awake before.

"Hello sir, how are you feeling?" She asked.

"Actually..." I said, amazed. "I feel fine. Did a guy in a black trench coat bring me here?"

"Yes, sir, he did."

"Do you know where he went?"

"Sorry, but I don't. He dropped you off and said he'd already patched up the major injuries. Have you broken a bone before, sir?"

"Uh, no. Do I have one now?" I thought I remembered having a broken arm when I awoke on the beach.

"That's the amazing thing. It appears that you used to, but it's fully recovered."

"What? Anyway, how long have I been here?"

"Three days. You slept the whole time!"

"That means the competition starts in two days! When can I leave?"

"We've already checked your injuries, and you're fine. You can leave right now."

"Great!" I said, and jumped up. I grabbed my pokéballs, they were sitting on the bedside table. "I don't need to pay a bill, do I?"

"The man that dropped you off already did, sir! He - he paid in gold nuggets."

"Sheesh, who is this guy? Thanks, anyway!" I took off out the door, through the hallway, and through the exit. I found myself in the middle of the city, and had no idea where I was. I saw a guy walking by, and asked if he knew where the pokémon league was.

"Oh, yeah. Just down that way." He pointed. Crazy luck. I walked down the street a few hundred meters, and I could see it right there. A massive wall, containing about 20,000 square yards of battlefields. That was so they could have more than one battle held at a time. Every year, there were about 600 people entered. I walked in, and right through the front gate was a pokémon center, where I could heal my pokémon and register for the competition. The automatic doors opened, and I walked right up to the front desk.

"I'd like to register for the pokémon league, please." I asked.

"Ok, show me your badges, sir." The desk lady told me.

I pulled out my badge case holding a total of 32 badges, eight from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. I hadn't acquired the eight Unova badges yet, but of course, that was straight where I was headed after this competition.

"Name?"

"Daniel Nollan."

"Daniel... All right! You're all registered! Here are your badges back, and good luck!"

"Thanks! I'll need it." I walked back outside to look for Josh. I walked over to the Training Center, a huge skyscraper, with about 30 battlefields inside for battling. It was so tall because the floors were heavy and thick, as were the walls. Pokémon battles could get destructive. The automatic doors let me in. I walked up to the front desk.

"Can I see the battlefield booking list?" I asked.

"All booked." The guy at the desk said. "You can book for later, though."

"I'm just looking for some friends."

"Oh. Here." I took it, and saw Nick and Josh's names on the thirteenth floor. I walked over to the elevator, and took it up. I got off, walked through a short hallway, and saw a Furret and a Lucario duking it out in a quick flurry of punches, slashes, and kicks.

"Lucario! Close combat!" Josh yelled. Lucario proceeded to beat the crud out of Furret, who eventually landed on the ground, defeated.

"Oh, hey! What's up?" Nick asked.

"Holy smokes!" Josh yelled. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since before the ship exploded! Are you okay?"

"I am now, but that's a long story." I said briefly. "You guys scrimmaging?"

"Yeah, want to go a round? I'll take you on!" Josh suggested. "Nick you ref, okay?"

"Sure." Nick replied. I walked down to the end of the battlefield, and Josh walked to the other end. Nick went over to the sidelines. "One on one!" Nick called. "No subs, choose at the same time, to prevent intentional type advantages." He said.

"Got it." Me and Josh said in unison.

"Go! Raichu!" I called, and threw his pokéball.

"Let's go! Flareon!" Josh yelled, and threw his at the same time.

"Thunderbolt!" I called. Raichu's cheeks puffed, and let loose a blast of sizzling lightning hurling towards Flareon. Flareon leaped to the side, landing solidly back on all fours.

"Fire blast!" Josh directed. Flareon spat a huge flaming star at Raichu.

"Raichu, coil your tail and spring up!" Raichu coiled his tail beneath itself, the used it as a spring to launch himself skyward. "Land a thunderpunch!" Raichu descended, and crashed his fist, crackling, straight into the ground. Flareon's head, unfortunately for it, was in the way. Flareon went tumbling back towards Josh, but quickly sprang back up to it's feet.

"Iron tail!" Josh called.

"Use it back!" I commanded. Both pokémon's tails began to glow and while Flareon leapt and did a 180, directing it's tail towards Raichu, Raichu extended his tail like a scorpion using it's stinger. The two attacks collided with a loud "CLANG" and Flareon, losing its momentum, fell on the ground, landing solidly on all fours. Raichu remain in his position. Both pokémon were about a meter and a half away from the other.

"Use return!" Josh called. Flareon quickly propelled itself towards Raichu, and slammed it's paw into Raichu's cheek on the way by. Raichu fell flat on the ground, and Flareon landed near me. Raichu slowly pushed himself up with difficulty.

"Volt tackle!" I called, and Raichu sprinted towards Flareon, shrouded with barrier of yellow voltage.

"Rethink that move," Josh called over to me. "use overheat!" Josh commanded Flareon.

Flareon opened it's mouth, and out of it blasted a devastating white flame with an orange flame spiraling around it. The attack crashed right into Raichu, throwing him off balance. Raichu fell face first into the ground and skidded a few feet.

"Raichu can't battle, Josh wins!" Nick decided.

"Raichu, return!" I called, and retrieved Raichu. Josh walked over to me.

"I wouldn't have gone with volt tackle if I were you," He advised. "it cost you the battle."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I'll think of something." Normally, something like that would've worked. I wondered why Raichu didn't just jump over the overheat. I ignored the truth that Flareon was just too fast.

"So who are you using in the preliminaries tomorrow?" Josh asked.

"I think I'm going to use Scizor," I said. "you?"

"Bayleef. Why are you using Scizor?"

"No reason. I just guess his speed could help out a lot. I also want to try out the new move set I'm gonna teach him." The Preliminaries were the quick one on one's that cut the number of competitors in half, to determine who was actually going to compete.

That evening I ate dinner and trained with Scizor a little while before going to bed. I was really excited for the battle the next day.

I woke up the next morning, grabbed my pokéballs and rushed out of the Pokémon Center. I quickly made my way over to the main stadium, where I knew I would face some of the toughest trainers out there. I waited at the end of a long line when I finally reached the front.

"Name?"

"Daniel Nollan."

"Got'cha. Go on in." As I walked into the stadium, my ears filled with the thunderous screams of the crowd above. A loud voice boomed through the hundreds of speakers positioned on the walls of the stadium.

"Battlers, please make your way to your numbered battlefield." There was a large screen at the front, where they had the names of the trainers listed, along with the number for the field they were battling on. I made my way over to field number 32, and saw a guy talking to his Alakazam, probably trying to psyche it up.

"Hey, you ready?" I asked as a challenge.

"You bet I am. You're going down!" He retrieved his pokémon, and we waited for the battles to start.

The fields were all made of dirt, and the walkways off of the fields were black rubber.

Finally, the announcer called:

"Trainers, the battle begins in two minutes! Prepare for battle!" The voice boomed. I walked over to the trainer's box, and after two minutes, the screen at the front counted down. Sweat trickled down my cheek, and my heart was beating at 50 miles per hour. I was ready. "Trainers, release your pokémon! Begin!"

"Go! Alakazam!" My opponent hurled the pokéball, and Alakazam emerged out of it.

"Get out there, Scizor!" I called, and threw Scizor's pokéball.

"Use psychic!" Called the opposing trainer. Alakazam shot two blue beams out of it's eyes, which both hit Scizor directly. Scizor was then outlined with a blue aura. Alakazam waved his hand to the side, and Scizor went flying into the wall.

"Scizor! Come on, be strong! Get up and use X-Scissor!" Scizor sprang up and crossed his arms. They both radiated white, and Scizor flew directly towards Alakazam. Upon reaching him, Alakazam levitated up above Scizor, leaving him to slash at nothing in an X motion.

"Calm mind!" Called Alakazam's trainer.

"Metal claw! Be quick!" I directed. Scizor's claw became a metallic grey, and he flew at Alakazam once again, who simply levitated up and above Scizor yet again, leaving him to slash at thin air.

"Flash!" Alakazam exploded into a blinding white light, forcing me to close my eyes. Once I could see, I noticed Scizor was a little off balance.

"Scizor! You okay?" Scizor looked back at me, squinting his eyes. "Keep cool and use agility!" Scizor flew amazingly quick in a small circle, getting faster and faster.

"Psychic!" The enemy trainer commanded. Alakazam shot two more blue beams at Scizor, which hit again. Alakazam waved his hand a second time, and Scizor went crashing into the wall, like before.

"Scizor!" I called. Scizor got up and looked back, still squinting his eyes. "Swords dance!" I commanded. Scizor spun multiple amazingly quick 360's, then posed with his left claw out and his right claw above his head.

"Psybeam!" Alakazam formed a glowing blue sphere between it's hands, which became a blue beam of light that shot right at Scizor.

"Dodge and use metal claw!" Scizor dove to the left, flew up to Alakazam, and belted it in the jaw all in about 3 seconds.

"Alakazam, recover!"

"X-Scissor before he can finish!" Alakazam started glowing white, but Scizor quickly crossed and uncrossed his arms in a powerful slash, knocking Alakazam out.

"Alakazam is unable to battle, Scizor wins!" The first round was over, and Scizor was the victor.

"All right, Scizor!" I called Scizor back to his pokéball. "That was awesome!" I shook hands with Alakazam's trainer. "Nice battle, You're Alakazam is one tough pokémon."

"Hmph." He grunted, and walked off, obviously disappointed. I turned and walked down towards the end of the stadium, and saw Josh waiting at the door.

"Hey, how'd you do? Scizor only barely won his match." I asked.

"Yeah, Bayleef won. We were up against a Vanillish, but he pulled through despite the disadvantage. Anyway, Nick's up next, why don't we stay and watch?"

"Good idea, I can't wait to see how Nick's going to win his battle." We walked up the bleachers and got a second row seat early, while all the new trainers flooded through the doors. The announcer called.

"Trainers, you begin in five minutes! Prepare!" Nick walked over to his battle area, and shook hands with his opponent. I couldn't understand what he was saying, he was one out of 50 trainers.

"Two minutes trainers! Take your stations!"

"So, who do you think Nick will be battling with?" I asked.

"I think he said he was using Jolteon," He replied. "but who knows what he'll be up against."

"Trainers! Take your stations! Let the battles begin!" Nick threw his pokéball, and out came Jolteon. Jolteon let out an intimidating cry, then his opponent threw his pokéball. It worried me to see the Excadrill that came out of it, which I knew was a ground type. Ground types had a huge advantage over Electric types.

Nick called an order, and Jolteon exploded in a blinding flash of sizzling electricity, which went flying at Excadrill. Excadrill didn't budge, even once it was hit by the attack. Then the opponent called an attack, and Excadrill ran at Jolteon. Jolteon sent another jolt, this time of blue energy, flying at Excadrill. This, of course, didn't stop it.

"Why does Nick keep using electric type attacks?" Josh asked. "He should know they won't work.

"Lets watch and find out," I replied. "Nick usually has a reason for what he does." Once Excadrill reached Jolteon, it swung it's sharp claws in it's general direction. That was metal claw. Nick called out, and Jolteon disappeared. Detect.

"Nice timing," I told Josh. "that was close." Nick called again, and Jolteon jumped up and tackled Excadrill with a massive force.

"Of course!" Josh exclaimed. "That's why he used thunder and thunder wave. The only other attack move it knows that would work is last resort, but that only works if all his other moves have been used. So, he had to use his other three moves in order to use last resort."

"Yeah," I replied. "but Excadrill is part steel, so that still wouldn't work too well."

"True, but with Jolteon's speed, he can probably hit and run well enough to land enough attacks that'll eventually take him out." Excadrill's trainer called an attack, and Excadrill dove underground. That was dig. Nick called an order, and Jolteon waited for Excadrill to come back up. After a few seconds, the ground beneath Jolteon exploded, but Jolteon had already disappeared with another Detect. It reappeared right behind Excadrill once it landed, and hit it with another full contact slam. Excadrill took a few steps forward in response, the turned around and slashed at Jolteon again. Jolteon jumped back, avoiding the attack, and sprang up, slamming into Excadrill for the third time. Excadrill's trainer made another call, and the raging pokémon charged straight for Jolteon, surrounded by a purple and orange aura. That was giga impact.

Nick made a command, and Jolteon dodged with another detect. Excadrill was immobilized from its attack, and Jolteon promptly slammed into Excadrill with another one, two, three last resorts. The final attack barely managed to knock Excadrill off of it's feet, but once it was down, it was down for good. The referee raised his flag and announced the winning side. Nick had a look of absolute joy on his face, then he called Jolteon back to it's pokéball.

"So," I said to Josh. "he made it, too. I wonder if Red got in."

"Oh," Josh replied. "You didn't watch Red's battle? It was awesome! Everyone who saw it was talking about it, he took out a Dragonite with his Espeon in about 20 seconds, with just two attacks! He never even took a single hit!"

"Wow." I said, shocked. "That's going to be some competition."

"Trainers!" The intercom voice shouted. "Here is a new announcement! Part two of round one will start tomorrow! For part two, you will be double battling with a tag team partner! Partners will be available to see on all PC's within the pokémon league area! Good luck, trainers!"

"Cool!" I said to Josh. "We should get to the Pokémon Center and see our partners! Maybe with some luck, I'll get a good team mate! Hopefully someone competent." We rushed back down to the Pokémon Center without even staying to congratulate Nick. When we got there, the PC area was full, with about a 5 person line at every one.

"Great," Josh moaned. "looks like everybody's just as eager to see their partner as we are." We didn't have to wait in line for long, just long enough for everyone to single themselves out among the hundreds of portraits. Once Josh reached the front of the line, he noticed there was a search option, where you could find yourself.

Josh heaved a colossal sigh, and looked his name up.

"Hm. I'm with some guy named Bob. I'll look him up later to see his pokémon. See you! I hope you got a good partner! As for me, I have to go find mine and get a strategy ready."

"Okay, bye." I said as he sprinted outside. I walked up to the screen and searched "Daniel Nollan." It zoomed in on my face. Right next to me was a portrait and name of my partner.

"Eon..." I accidentally said aloud. Then I took a step back.I recognized him. Glasses, sandy blond hair, black trench coat. The guy with the Absol. I tore out of the building and began to look for him. I asked if anyone had seen him. Then I ran in to Nick.

"Hey, Nick! Nice win on your battle. That was impressive!"

"Uh, thanks. Do you know who your partner is for the double battle?"

"Yeah! I was just looking for him. Have you seen a guy with generic circular glasses and a black trench coat?"

"I don't... Think so, no."

"Have you seen an Absol following a guy around?"

"Oh! Yeah, he walked by me. That way, about... I don't know, five minutes ago?" I didn't even say anything like "see ya." I just tore down the streets as fast as I could, my eyes scanning for an Absol.

After about five minutes I was definitely tired out, when I heard a deep voice yelling:

"Get out of here, you mangy mutt! Teach you to steal my food, you little creepy rassafrassa freaking rargh..." I ran over to where I heard the yelling coming from, and a white blur blew past me, knocking me over.

"Snowflake, get back here!" A voice came from above me. I heard claws pitter pattering on pavement, then a pause.

"Roo?" A noise came from above me. I opened my eyes, and suddenly a pink slobbery tongue was all over my face.

"Augh! What the-?" I sat up and saw a happy Absol with it's tongue sticking out, panting joyfully. Then I looked higher to see it's trainer, a man with sandy blond hair and a black trench coat, standing above me.

"Oh, Eon! I was just looking for you!" I said as I stood up quickly.

"That's odd," He replied simply. "I don't recall telling you my name."

"Oh, I just found out that we're partners for the tag battle tomorrow! It had your name listed."

"I see."

"Anyway, I was wondering if I could meet with you sometime and figure out a battle strategy. You know, which pokémon we'll use, what maneuvers we'll use, stuff like that."

"Hmm. That's thoughtful of you, but there's really no need."

"What? But we'll have no plan! The battle will be completely hectic! You don't want to lose, do you?"

"Do you fear what you do not know? We'll be fine." He pivoted on his heels and briskly walked off, with Absol right behind him.

As far as I could tell, he had pretty much had just said; 'Confucius say: You worry too much!'. Great. How were we going to pull this off? I was almost sure we were going to lose with no plan. Our opponents both had eight badges as well, I remembered. They would be top notch opponents.

I walked off a few hundred yards from the main city, into a relatively isolated field of green grass.

"Three pokémon," I told myself. "and for this battle, I won't be relying on my ally. Go, Blaziken! Go, Sceptile! Go, Luxray! You guys ready for some training? I'm going to be using the three of you in our battle, so we need to be ready." They all cried out in approval and determination. All of my doubts were gone now. No matter how oblivious my ally was, I couldn't lose with these pokémon. They were great. I walked to the sideline of the field.

"Luxray, to my right! Charizard and Sceptile, to my left. Luxray, this drill is to teach you to battle two pokémon, in case your ally is out. Ready?" Luxray nodded. "Good. Blaziken, flamethrower! Luxray, dodge!" Luxray jumped to the left, avoiding the flames. "Charizard, move in and slash while Luxray is distracted! Luxray, quickly block it with iron tail!"

This went on for about two hours, and my pokémon were wiped once it was over. I called them back to their pokéballs, and headed for the Pokémon Center, so we could all get a good night's sleep. I walked through the automatic doors, up to the front desk, and rung the bell. The nurse walked over.

"I'd like to turn in these three pokémon for healing, and for the night, please."

"No problem," She said. "Come pick them up tomorrow at eight. They'll be ready."

"Thanks a lot." I said, and walked up stairs to my room. When I entered, Nick and Josh were already inside, talking.

"Oh hey guys, what's up?" I asked, taking off my had, kicking off my shoes, and promptly flopping down onto my bed.

"We were talking about our battle strategies tomorrow." Josh answered. "Looks like we've both got awesome team mates. How about you?"

"My team mate? Nothing. 'No strategy', he said. 'We'll be fine', he said." I replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Wow. Harsh. Oh well, you probably will do fine. You're good enough."

"I'll try." I said, and the next thing I noticed I was awake in bed with bright sunshine beaming through the sunshine. The clock said nine o' clock, and I noticed Nick and Josh were already gone. My battle was at 10. I tore the blanket off of myself, jerked the door open, and ran to the front desk, frantically tapping the bell over and over. The nurse ran over, seeming to feel the vibe of panic that I was giving off.

"Huh? Wha- What? Yes?"

"I need my pokémon, please!"

"Oh, yes. Of course!" She hurried to the back room, and came back with three pokéballs. "Here you go! Good luck with your battle!"

"Thanks." I said, and hurried off. It took me about 30 minutes to get all the way over to the Battle Stadium, where my battle was scheduled. Luckily, I was a competitor, so I didn't have to go through the long line of people buying tickets to get in. I just walked to the other end of the room, where a crabby old lady was waiting for competitors to show up. She looked vaguely like this third grade teacher that I still had nightmares about. Her expression gave the impression that she'd spent a childhood sucking on lemons.

"Daniel Nollan," I said. "sorry I'm late."

"Apologize to your team-mate, not me. He even came to ask where you were. Anyway, you're the last one here. Go on in, and enjoy your stupid battle!"

I walked through the doors, right onto the front row of the stadium. Competitors waiting to battle all sat in the front row next to their partners, and shifted down four seats when four more got up for their battle. Once you reached the end of the line, that meant you were next up to battle. The only empty seat was mine, right in between Josh and Eon. I went over.

"All right, what took you so long?" Josh asked.

"Slept late," I said, a little embarrassed, "but I'm here now, so it doesn't matter." I sat down, and Eon shot me a regarding look, raising his eyebrow. Um, so..." I began, "You still think everything will be peachy?"

"That's not the word I would have chosen, but yes, everything should be fine." He didn't even make eye contact.

I decided to direct my attention to the battle going on. There was a Simisear battling a Politoed, and, with one last hydro pump, Politoed easily won the match. The trainers walked off the field, and everybody in the front row scooted over four seats. There were four more battles to watch, then it was Josh's turn. He looked really nervous as he got up.

"Get out there and win," I said. "otherwise I'll be stuck fighting Nick for the finals!"

"Yeah, sure." He responded quickly, then ran out onto the field. The four trainers and the referee gathered in the middle, and the referee flipped a coin.

"Josh and Bob have the first move! Let the match begin!" The four trainers ran over to their sides. Josh threw his pokéball, letting out his Lucario. Bob threw his as well, letting out a Bisharp. The opponents threw out a Hypno and a Walrein.

"Lucario! Use Close combat on Bisharp!" Josh yelled. That was crazy. Did he not like his team-mate? Bisharp would be taken out in one hit, easily.

"Bisharp, endure!" Bob called. Lucario started kicking and punching, but Bisharp held strong, although it obviously felt the hits. Bisharp frantically swallowed a berry - Salac, I think.

"Walrein!" The opponent called, "Ice beam!"

"Counter it with aura sphere, Lucario!" Josh yelled. Before the beam of ice could hit Bisharp, it was intercepted by a huge twirling aura sphere, causing an explosion. The smoke was thick, and no one could see a thing. Once it cleared, Bisharp was face to face with Hypno.

"Reversal! Now!" Bob called. Orbs of glowing blue light spiraled around Bisharp, who punched Hypno in the gut with a devastating, blue glowing blow. Hypno was already out of the match. Before anyone had time to gasp, Lucario was literally on top of Walrein using close combat, punch and kicking with all it had. Walrein was out as well.

"Awesome move!" I said to Eon. "The way Bisharp used endure and reversal, that was genius!"

"Using close combat was somewhat inadvisable. An aura sphere would have been sufficient, and Lucario would have been able to maintain his defenses."

"Everyone's a critic."

The match continued at a regular pace, with nothing else too interesting happening. Josh lost his Lucario - I guess Eon was right after all about the defensive losses - and sent out his Steelix at one point, but still managed to win the match afterwards, with his team mate not even losing his Bisharp, despite its low health. It just kept using reversal, eventually taking out three full pokémon, all with just one hit each.

Now it was our turn. I stood up, and noticed I was sweating. I honestly was really nervous. Eon and I walked to the middle of the field, along with our opponents and the referee.

"All right guys, obviously you know what to do since you've been watching the past gazillion guys battling?"

"Yes." We all said in unison.

"Right, then." He flipped the coin, and it landed on the ground, spinning until it finally landed. "Daniel and Eon have the first move."

We walked over to our positions. I glanced at Eon, who had his eyes set on the opponents. They threw their pokéballs, and out of them came a Galvantula and a Garchomp. I couldn't remember much about Galvantula, so I looked it up in my pokédex.

"Galvantula, the EleSpider pokémon.

Type: Electric/Bug.

Ability: Compound eyes/Unnerve.

They employ an electrically charged web to trap their prey. While it is immobilized by shock, they slowly consume it over several agonizing days. When attacked, they create an electric barrier by spitting out many electrically charged threads."

Okay, so it was bug/electric.

"Go! Blaziken!" I called. I threw my pokéball, and Blaziken emerged, his wrists flared, and obviously ready for battle. Eon simply tossed his pokéball. An Umbreon came out.

"OK, Obsidian, let us win this match as well as the last." He encouraged. Our opponents had the first move.

"Garchomp, use dragon rush!" One of them called out. Garchomp's head glowed, and it became enveloped in a blue light. It charged Blaziken.

"Galvantula! Use thunder wave!" Galvantula was shrouded in spiraling blue electricity, which it sent hurling at Blaziken as well. Blaziken rolled out of the way, but Garchomp was still coming. Blaziken was about to take a full on hit, until Umbreon got in the way. It took the blow but remained strong, locked into position. Garchomp's arms were pressing on Umbreon's head, trying to force it to the ground. Then Umbreon glowed purple, and lifted it's head quickly, launching Garchomp skyward, straight onto the enemy Galvantula. It had used payback. While they were both struggling to get up, I took the opportunity.

"Flamethrower!" I called, and Blaziken spat a blast of flames, hitting them both at the same time, also sending them flying farther back. They both struggled to their feet. I was hoping that what we just pulled off wasn't just a fluke.

"Thunder!" Galvantula's trainer directed.

"Dragon rush, again!" Garchomp's trainer yelled. They were doing the same thing again, trying to overwhelm one pokémon at one time. Maybe they thought we were just a fluke, too.

Thunder missed, as Blaziken rolled to the side. Garchomp was to close to avoid. Out of nowhere, Umbreon leaped, and stood firmly right in front of Blaziken. It's eyes glowed bright blue. Garchomp made eye contact. It's pupils disappeared, and it suddenly charged off course and slammed into the wall. It fell onto the ground, and convulsed like it was having a seizure. Umbreon had used confuse ray to cover for Blaziken. Then it glowed purple, and charged Garchomp. Payback again. It slammed into Garchomp, leaving it unconscious.

"Garchomp is unable to battle! Please switch for another pokémon!" He recalled his Garchomp, and this time sent out a Darmanitan. I looked that one up on my pokédex as well.

"Darmanitan, the blazing pokémon.

Type: Fire. In Zen mode, it is half psychic.

Abilities: Sheer force/Zen mode.

It's internal fire burns at 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, making enough power that it can destroy a dump truck with one punch. When weakened in battle, it transforms into a stone statue. Then it sharpens its mind and fights on mentally."

"Use fire punch!" It's trainer called.

"Blaziken, take it on with brick break!" I called. Blaziken went to battle Darmanitan in one on one combat. It too fast to react to, punch, jump, dodge, kick, punch, block, punch, punch, jump, kick. Once Blaziken finally got a relatively solid hit, he jumped back, awaiting a rematch once Darmanitan got up. Then I heard the referee's voice:

"Galvantula is unable to battle! Please substitute pokémon!" Umbreon had taken out Galvantula while Blaziken fought Darmanitan, although I don't know how. Next, the trainer sent out a Samurott.

"Samurott, use hydro pump on Blaziken!" Samurott obliged and blasted a super-soaking blast of water at Blaziken, way too fast for him to dodge. Blaziken was sent flat on his back.

"Darmanitan, finish it off with focus punch!" The other trainer called. Too late. Umbreon had attached itself to Darmanitan's back, and bit into it's neck with purple glowing fangs. It used toxic. Darmanitan cried out in pain, and then Umbreon leaped off Darmanitan's back and brought itself in between Blaziken and it's opponent. Umbreon's eyes glowed bright blue again, and Darmanitan promptly drove it's fist painfully into the ground. In reaction to the pain, and fell over and began flailing aimlessly on the ground.

"What do you say we gang up on Samurott?" I suggested to Eon.

"Sound plan." He replied cooly. Then I realized that, unfortunately, hydro pump had been enough to take Blaziken out.

"Blaziken is unable to battle! Please substitute pokémon!" I recalled Blaziken. Since our current opponent was a water type...

"Luxray! Let's do this!" I yelled, and threw his pokéball. Luxray emerged. Umbreon began to glow white, and white glitter began to cascade from the sky. It was using moonlight, and I had to cover for it.

"Samurott, hydro pump!" The trainer called eagerly. Our other opponent was still screaming at his Darmanitan uselessly.

"Luxray, get in his way and use thunder!" Luxray jumped between Samurott and Umbreon and shot a spiraling wave of electricity at the incoming hydro pump. The attacks collided, causing an explosion. I looked over to find that Umbreon was finished healing, and was now glowing purple, ready to use payback in response to Samurott's hydro pump.

"Aqua tail!" Samurott's trainer cried. Samurott's tail glowed blue, and bubbles began to form around it.

"Luxray, jump up and back!" I called. Luxray jumped backwards right as aqua tail was about to strike. Umbreon had been a foot behind Luxray the whole time, so when Luxray jumped, he landed right behind Umbreon, like the beginning of a reverse leap frog. The moment Luxray was in the air and out of the way, Umbreon charged under the airborne Luxray and slammed into Samurott head on. Samurott cried out and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Samurott is unable to battle! Please substitute pokémon!"

"Forget this!" Darmanitan was recalled to it's pokéball, although I wondered why he hadn't done that sooner. It cost his friend a pokémon.

Our two opponents sent out a Breloom and a Dusknoir. I decided to stick with Luxray, and Eon seemed to be happy with his Umbreon. Being the losers, our opponents had the first move.

"Dusknoir! Use shadow punch!" The trainer called. Umbreon wasted no time getting in front of Luxray. Shadow punch was an unavoidable move, but it wasn't very effective against dark types. Dusknoir punched the air, and a dark shadowy fist came out of its hand. The hand flew and hit Umbreon in the face, but Umbreon only barely recoiled. While this was happening, Breloom had run over, attempting to hit Umbreon with a sky uppercut.

"Intercept it with iron tail!" I called. Luxray jumped up and flipped once, landing it's tail in between the two pokémon, colliding it with Breloom's fist. Umbreon then glowed purple, and while Breloom was regaining its balance, Umbreon crashed into it. While Umbreon was doing that, Dusknoir had flown over and was attempting to hid Luxray with an ice punch. "Iron tail again!" I called, and Luxray intercepted with a gleaming, metallic tail. Once Dusknoir had stepped back in recoil to the shock, it was greeted by a purple glowing Umbreon crashing straight into it's torso. Both of the enemy pokémon were getting up slowly, due to the damage they had taken. Umbreon looked at Breloom with glowing blue eyes, confusing it. "Luxray, use thunder!" I called. Before Dusknoir could get up, it was shocked by a cackling blast of yellow energy. It fell back down, and stayed down. Breloom was on the ground, flailing, convulsion, trying to eat its arm and partially succeeding.

"Dusknoir is unable to battle! Please substitute pokémon!" Dusknoir was recalled in exchange for Darmanitan. Both of our opponents were using their final pokémon, with me still having one and Eon still having two. We were doing pretty well, despite what I had expected.

"Darmanitan! Use flamethrower!" Darmanitan sent a blast of fire at Umbreon, which Umbreon easily dodged with a quick step to the right. Then it glowed purple and charged Darmanitan. While that was going on, I figured I would take out the troubled Breloom.

"Thunder!" I called. Luxray sent a shocking blast of energy cascading down upon Breloom, who then spazzed out on the ground even worse than before.

"Breloom is unable to battle! Derrick is out of useable pokémon! Derrick blacked out! Just kidding, guys - he's still concious."

"Grr! Darmanitan! Flamethrower!" Before it could spit fire, Umbreon's eyes glowed bright blue, and Darmanitan was confused once again.

"Luxray! Thunder!" Luxray zapped Darmanitan good, leaving on the ground out of energy.

"Darmanitan is unable to battle! Umbreon and Luxray win! The match goes to Daniel and Eon!" The referee yelled. The crowd exploded. I was shocked. I couldn't believe we had won without planning anything. Eon hadn't even lost a single pokémon.

"Splendid, Obsidian." Eon congratulated, as Umbreon meandered back to his side.

"Hey," I said as I walked over. "You were really impressive. Sorry for freaking out yesterday when you didn't want to plan. I guess it did work out after all!"

"It seems so. Now, if you'll excuse me." He turned and walked quickly through the doors. He didn't even stop to be congratulated by anybody.

I walked back towards the exit, but I was stopped by Josh.

"THAT WAS AMAZING!" He screamed. "How did you guys do that? You pulled off some of the most amazing teamwork I've ever seen!"

"I don't know. It was mostly him. He just reacted to the moves everybody made, sort of just going with the flow. The thing that weirded me out was the fact that he never commanded his pokémon. Maybe he moved his arms a bit, but he never said anything."

"Strange." Josh said.

Eon... I would definitely worry about having to battle that guy later on in the tournament.


	5. Hoenn Championships, Rounds 2 and 3!

It was the end of the second round - three on three, and Charizard was my last pokémon. Granted, my opponent's Rampardos was his last pokémon, too, but I still didn't like my chances.

"Charizard, flamethrower!" I called. Charizard threw up a stream of orange and red flames.

"Head smash!" My opponent commanded. Rampardos charged right into the attack. Once Charizard let up, Rampardos was still charging, and seemed to be unhurt.

"Fly up, Charizard," I yelled. "Then use will-o-wisp!" Charizard shot up into the sky, leaving Rampardos to gradually lose speed once it missed. Charizard waited until Rampardos stopped, as a moving target isn't as easy to hit, then spat a ball of radiant blue fire out of it's mouth.

"Rampardos, use stone edge!" The trainer cried out. That, I should have foreseen. Of course a rock type like Rampardos would have to know a deadly, long range rock attack like stone edge.

Chips of rock broke off from the ground beneath Rampardos, and began to quickly spiral around it. Eventually, they flung off course with great momentum, shooting straight for Charizard. They collided with will-o-wisp - no, wait - they sliced straight through will-o-wisp.

"Dive!" I called to Charizard. Charizard flipped, letting his head face the ground. He ceased movement of his wings, and began to free fall. He descended at lightning speed, then straightened his wings at the last minute, creating just enough air resistance to change direction. He was now speeding at about 60 miles per hour, parallel to the ground. He stretched his wings in a brilliant wing attack, letting them crash straight into Rampardos's torso. Rampardos's weight was enough to slow Charizard down enough as he went by to allow him to land solidly on both feet.

"Pivot and use flamethrower!" Charizard spun a 180 on one foot, then blasted Rampardos with a scorching flamethrower attack. Rampardos was shaken, but still not out.

"Giga impact!" The other trainer commanded. I could tell he was using a last resort tactic, since his Rampardos couldn't last much longer.

"Charizard," I called, "fly low to the ground, near the wall, then up!" Rampardos began to charge Charizard, surrounded by a purple energy, which itself was surrounded by orange streaks. Charizard turned his back to Rampardos and began to fly low. They both made their way across the battlefield, right in front of the wall. Charizard then pivoted up and back, making a U-turn. Rampardos, no longer having a target to crash into, crashed into the wall. Charizard landed on its feet right behind it. Rampardos couldn't move right away after using giga impact, so I knew I had this in the bag.

"Flamethrower!" I yelled. Charizard walked close enough to Rampardos that their faces were only an inch apart, then opened his mouth, letting loose a point-blank blast of flames that knocked Rampardos flat on its back.

"Rampardos is unable to battle! Charizard wins! The match goes to Daniel!"

"Awesome fight, Charizard! Return!" I ran over to my opponent. "Good battle!" I said, then quickly ran over to the next door stadium. Josh had told me that his battle was right after mine, and I didn't want to miss a second of it. I dashed into the main area and out the doors. I began running down the sidewalk, when something caught my eye. I looked down the alleyway across the street, and thought I saw two guys talking. I looked closer, and noticed one of them had blood red hair. The other had leafy green hair. I couldn't make anything else out. I figured it probably wasn't too important, so I continued running over to the next stadium, where Josh's battle would be held. I ran in and quickly made my way over to the spectators line. It was long. I waited for about 15 minutes. I figured Josh must be pretty popular.

Once I made it in, I spotted Nick sitting in the second row. He was next to Red. I hadn't seen Red since before the ship exploded.

"Hey, has the battle started yet?" I asked as I sat down next to Nick.

"No," He said, "but Red's battle was fun to watch!" Nick continued to talk about how Red managed to defeat all three of his opponents pokémon with just his Blastoise and Metagross. Red just had his eyes set off to the distance, like he was trying not to hear him.

"Uh, hey Red," I said. "how's it been?"

"Fine."

"So I hear you're a pretty good trainer. Do you defeat most trainers with just two pokémon?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Nice seeing you, though!"

"Battle's starting."

Josh walked out onto the field first, as the announcer introduced him. Then his opponent walked on to the field.

"Josh's opponent today will be Frank, from Rustboro City!" The announcer called. The two walked to the middle of the field, along with the referee. The ref flipped the coin, then talked to Frank, who I assumed had the first move. They walked over to their boxes on the field.

"Begin!" The referee called.

"Go, Archeops!" Frank yelled.

"Butterfree, go!" Josh called, and threw Butterfree's pokéball.

"Archeops, use dragon breath!" Archeops spat out a thick green beam of air out at Butterfree, who casually fluttered out of the way.

"Sleep powder!" Josh commanded. Butterfree released a wave of purple dust that began to wash over Archeops, who flopped over on the ground and began to snore. "Solar beam!" With no counterattacks coming, Butterfree was free to charge up solar beam without a problem. Butterfree then released a massive beam of energy from it's mouth, which struck Archeops head on. One hit was all it took, Archeops was out.

"Archeops is unable to battle, Butterfree wins!" The ref called.

"Go, Milotic!" Frank yelled, as his pokéball released Milotic.

"Butterfree, return!" Josh recalled Butterfree for a sub. "Go, Steelix!"

"Milotic, use aqua tail!" Frank called.

"Intercept with iron tail!" Steelix's tail gleamed, although it didn't seem to change color or texture, and the two pokémon swung their tails together. Milotic, being smaller and having less momentum, pushed off of Steelix's tail and landed safely back on the ground.

"Use hydro pump!" Frank commanded.

"Dig!" Josh responded. Steelix was one of the fastest Steelixes I had ever seen. Even with Milotic's speed, Steelix still managed to burrow underground before being hit with the 60 mile per hour hydro pump. Not only that, but it

literally took about 2 seconds for Steelix to come back up and hit Milotic with a powerful blast. Milotic hit the ground hard, but got up without what seemed to be too much effort.

"Steelix, gyro ball!"

"Milotic, Water pulse!" Steelix curled up into a ring shape so that it's head and tail were touching, then began to levitate, then began to spin. While spinning, it launched itself at Milotic, the water pulse splashing harmlessly against its steel skin. It made contact with Milotic, who collapsed breathlessly on the ground, defeated.

"Milotic is unable to battle! Steelix wins!" Frank looked panicked. I would be too, if I had only one pokémon left and my opponent still had three.

"He's been doing pretty well so far." I said to Nick.

"Let's see how he does with this next pokémon." Nick replied.

"Go, Rhyperior!" Frank threw the pokéball, releasing a Rhyperior.

"Rhyperior's a tough pokémon," I said to Nick. "I wonder how he's going to play around this."

"Rhyperior!" Frank directed. "Rock wrecker!" Rhyperior put it's hands together, and tiny chips of stone came out of two small holes in its hands, gradually forming a huge rock, which was outlined in red. The red outline faded, and Rhyperior lobbed the massive stone at Steelix. The rock moved so fast, Steelix didn't have time to move. The rock crashed right into Steelix's torso, or I guess you could call it it's middle area, or whatever. Anyway, Steelix was knocked unconscious.

"Steelix, return!" That was worrying. If rock wrecker could take out a Steelix in one hit, Josh would have to be careful.

"Go, Bayleef!" Josh threw Bayleef's pokéball, letting out the powerful pokémon. Bayleef may only be a second evolution, but Josh's Bayleef could probably beat just about any Meganium out there, it was one tough pokémon.

"Rhyperior, use mega horn!" Rhyperior's horn glowed white. Rhyperior lowered it's head, then charged Bayleef.

"Bayleef, use vine whip to dodge!" Josh commanded. Then, Bayleef used a technique I had never seen him use before. Bayleef placed the tips of its vines on the ground, then used them to lift its body off the ground at the last second, leaving Rhyperior to charge right under Bayleef. Rhyperior slowed down and stopped the attack.

"Rhyperior, use hammer arm!" Frank called.

"Wait," Josh assured Bayleef. Rhyperior ran up to Bayleef and raised it's arm, which began to glow white.

"Vine whip!" Josh commanded. Bayleef used it's vines to firmly grip Rhyperior's arm, rendering it useless, and leaving Rhyperior open for an attack. "Now, razor leaf!" Josh commanded. Bayleef swung its head, and multiple razor sharp leaves flew out from the leaf on its head. Bayleef let go of Rhyperior's arm, allowing the force of the razor leaf to knock it backwards.

Frank was looking worried.

"Use take down!" He commanded. Josh cracked a smile. I knew what was coming. Rhyperior charged Bayleef, gaining speed as it closed the distance between itself and Bayleef.

"Protect!" Josh ordered. Bayleef was surrounded by a glowing green barrier, which Rhyperior clumsily crashed into. Rhyperior, feeling the effects of crashing right into a wall with full force, toppled over onto the ground. It wasn't getting up.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle! Bayleef wins, and the match goes to Josh!" Josh jumped with joy and recalled Bayleef. I walked down to the sidelines to congratulate him. He walked over.

"That was great," I said, "he obviously wasn't expecting a pokémon like Bayleef to know protect."

"Yeah, I love surprising people with that move!"

"Tell you what, why don't you take your pokémon down to the Pokémon Center, then we train the three pokémon that didn't battle today. You know, just for a workout."

"Sure, sounds good!" I walked with Josh down to the Pokémon Center. About halfway there, I thought I spotted the same two guys standing in an alleyway. Only this time it was a different one, and they were more visible.

"Josh, hang on a minute," I said, and we stopped. "Look over there, the guys in the alleyway. They look like they're waiting for something. It was strange, because I couldn't make out the person in front, even thought he seemed close enough to be visible. He was just across the street. I couldn't see the one in the back, because he was behind the invisible guy. All I could make out was a black velvet hat with a green feather plume.

"It's probably none of our business," Josh said. We went to the Pokémon Center, then down to the field I was at before to train.

"So who are you battling with tomorrow?" Josh asked me.

"Blaziken, Sceptile, Raichu," I replied. "How about you?"

"Probably Bayleef, Swampert, and Flareon." The battles for the third round were randomly determined within a certain group. You were required to be there within a certain amount of time, like in the double battles, except they randomly generated opponents until everyone had battled. They did it that way to take away the luxury of being able to analyze your opponent and prepare a team.

Josh and I battled and trained the rest of the day, trying to get as much out of our pokémon as possible. We didn't work them too hard, instead we worked on perfecting things like move sequencing and accuracy.

Once we finished eating, Josh and I stepped out and were greeted by an icy, black night. It was interesting how the city was so busy during the day, but completely shut down and quiet at night. Walking to the Pokémon Center, I even got chills down my spine. It seemed so unusual. Not only the silence, but the feeling I had that something bad was lurking around the corner.

We were talking casually until we heard footsteps at the end of the block. They were running footsteps. I don't know why, but my instincts said hide! I said just that, then grabbed Josh and pulled him back around the side of the building where we couldn't be seen. We both peered our heads around the corner.

There were two people running frantically, but were stopped once they realized there was no alleyway to back into. One was a boy, with moderately short, greasy black hair. He wore a black fleece with a white undershirt, both stained with mud. He also wore tattered blue jeans. The other was a girl, with brown, shoulder length, equally greasy hair. She wore a purple T-shirt with tan long pants, both torn and stained with mud. They were closely followed by a Sawk. Being in many battles and being able to gauge a pokémon's energy, I could tell this Sawk had been battling hard, and was about to collapse. One hit and it would be done for.

They both backed slowly into the wall, the Sawk holding its arms out protectively. Then two men came past the building we were hiding behind from the other side, coming into view. One was wearing a black cloak, which seemed to fade in and out of the dark background. He was also wearing a black velvet hat with a green velvet plume.

The other was one I recognized. Blood red spiked hair, Black pants, Black long sleeved shirt with a big red R on the front. It was Jake.

"Took long enough," He sneered. "You two are done running." The boy and girl clasped each others hands.

"Go, Sableye!" He threw the pokéball, and Sableye came out.

"Seviper, assist me!" The other called out, releasing a Seviper.

"Sawk!" The boy yelled. "Focus blast!" Sawk began to generate a blue glowing orb.

"Night slash!" Jake yelled. Sableye hit Sawk with a massive claw. Sawk fell to the ground, motionless. "Now, shadow ball!" The two were backed against the wall. Fear was obvious in their eyes. Even more obvious, though, was their look of defiance.

"Let's go for 'em." I whispered to Josh. We broke our cover and ran over to the conflict. The two looked over at us in surprise, but Jake and his companion noticed too late.

"Bayleef, protect!" Josh called as he released Bayleef in between Sableye and the rugged twosome. Bayleef formed a green barrier around itself, Sawk, and the other two, leaving them unharmed from the incoming shadow ball.

"Luxray, go!" I called. "Thunder straight up!" I didn't want to drag this out, for risk of the two behind me getting hurt. Luxray's thunder would be an obvious signal to the police. If they showed up, Jake and his "friend" would most likely disappear.

"Alright, Jake, what do you want with these two?"

"That is none of your affair," The cloaked one said calmly and boldly, as he proceeded to tear off his cloak, revealing a formal black tuxedo. He was wearing black dress pants and dress shoes, as well as a black cape billowing behind him. His eyes were striking, and I mean striking, green. He had the kind of eyes that would burn a hole in a picture if he looked at it too long.

"If you knew exactly who these two were, you would get out of our way, moron." Jake snapped. "Sableye, return. Go, Krookodile!"

"Return to me, Seviper. Ariados, assist!"

Only one thing stopped me. This Krookodile was primarily brown, not red. Not only that, but its stripes were bright gold, rather than pure black. Ariados was primarily purple, rather than red, along with blue stripes, not purple, on its legs. Its eyes were a vivid blue, rather than the usual purple. They were both shiny.

"Luxray, use iron tail on Krookodile!" Luxray leaped up with a gleaming tail towards Krookodile, who, using shadow claw, simply grew transparent purple claws and smacked Luxray straight down to the ground. Josh tried to hit Ariados.

"Bayleef, use vine whip!"

"Ariados, string shot." String shot and vine whip both wrapped around each other, resulting in a seriously even tug-o-war match between the two pokémon.

"Razor leaf!" Josh called. Since Ariados was locked in place, razor leaf hit dead on, slicing clean through each of Ariados's strings and sending it tumbling backwards.

"Let's switch opponents," I said. "Gives our pokémon a better advantage."

"Good plan." Josh said.

"Dig!" Jake called. Krookodile tore right through the asphalt and burrowed underground.

"Solar beam!" Josh directed.

"Cover Bayleef!" I commanded Luxray. Luxray jumped between Ariados and Bayleef.

"Toxic on Bayleef." The one with the plumed hat called. Ariados ran for Bayleef, but Luxray took the hit. Luxray wasn't able to block it, though, which could cause major problems. "Now Venoshock." Ariados spat out a purple liquid all over Luxray, who yelled and fell to the ground. Luxray was about to get up when Krookodile emerged and belted Luxray with a dig attack. Luxray was collapsed on the ground.

"Solar beam!" Josh called. Bayleef spat out a massive beam of white energy, hitting Krookodile directly in the torso. Krookodile and Luxray were both out of the battle.

"Luxray, return." I was about to send out Scizor when I heard sirens.

"Time to disappear," Said the caped one. "Ariados, return. Flygon, fly."

"Mandibuzz, use fly!" They both flew off.

"Great," I said. "Now how do we explain this to them?"

"We tell the truth," He said. Police officers came rushing over.

"Come on, Trin," The boy said. "We need to get out of here." He looked at me warily, like he wasn't sure he could trust me, then ran off, into the shadows. The girl turned to me and Josh.

"Thank you," She said simply, then followed him. The police got out of their cars and ran over to us.

"We saw lightning," One of them said. "What happened?"

"Team Rocket," Josh replied. "They just flew off."

"Team Rocket, what exactly were they up to?" Josh was about to speak, but I spoke first.

"We don't know. We ran into them and they started fighting us," I lied. I got the feeling that the two we just helped out didn't want a whole lot of attention.

"Fine, we'll look into the matter. If Team Rocket's here, they won't be for long. Thanks for the information." They got into their cars and drove off.

"So, we go back to our room and tell Nick?" Josh asked.

"Yup," I said. We went back to our room and told Nick, who wasn't very happy about being woken up. We told him everything.

"Oookay..." He started. "What does Team Rocket want with two beaten up teen kids?"

"I don't know," I said. "But Jake did say something interesting. He said 'If you knew who these two were, you'd stay out of our way, moron.'"

"That's wrong," Josh said. "First of all, I don't care who they were, I love getting in their way. Second, we're definitely not morons."

"Maybe we'll find some things out," I said. "On another note, we'd better all win our third rounds, got it? I want to battle one of you for the championships."

"Got it."

"Definitely!"

Getting up in the morning wasn't very hard, considering how pumped I was for my upcoming battle. I had my three pokémon, Blaziken, Sceptile, and Raichu, on my belt. The three of us rushed over to the battle stadium just in time. We got in our competitor's seats and waited our turn. Josh was scheduled to be in a different arena, so unfortunately, we couldn't watch him. There were lots of other spectacular battles, but I was too excited to really pay much attention. Then it was Nick's turn.

"The next two competitors are: Nick versus Trinity!" My mouth almost dropped. Nick was facing the girl we helped the night before. It wasn't easy, but I could tell it was the same girl. As she walked out onto the field, she was wearing a knee length blue skirt with a white T-shirt. Her hair wasn't greasy at all, and now that you could look at it, you could make out the slight curl under her ear. She and Nick shook hands and ran down to their ends of the field.

"Nick has the first move. Begin!"

"Go, Ampharos!" He called.

"Let's go, Leavanny!" She yelled. Ampharos was looking as tough as ever. Trinity's Leavanny had an energetic confidence about it, like it was saying You may think you're good, but I'm better.

"Ampharos, use thunder!" Just like Nick, using a long range move first without having to get in close and take damage. Ampharos sent a blast of electricity bolting towards Leavanny.

"Leaf storm!" Leavanny whipped up a massive whirlwind with leaves flying through it, scattering the electric charge into little sparks. The move then went spinning down at Ampharos. Ampharos was caught dead in the middle of the tornado, was tossed up violently, then crashed to the ground.

"Ampharos, get up and use body slam!" Long range wasn't working, so Nick was trying out close range. Ampharos charged Leavanny, jumping into the air and landing... On the ground. Leavanny's leaf arms glowed green, and it sent them slicing down towards Ampharos. Ampharos rolled just at the right time, then tackled Leavanny. It didn't look like much, but that tackle was facade. If the Ampharos had been poisoned, burned, paralyzed or whatever, then Ampharos would have been covered in poison, fire, electricity, or whatever. At the moment, though, it was just a tackle. Leavanny used the momentum to do a back handspring.

"Leavanny, energy ball!"

"Ampharos, electro ball!" The two glowing orbs crashed into each other, canceling out each others power. This battle was getting nowhere, and Nick knew it, too.

"Ampharos, return! Go, Furret!" Nick sent out Furret, and for a moment I wondered why he didn't send out Typhlosion. Then I figured if Trinity was smart, she would've switched too. She was smart.

"Furret, use attract!" Furret winked at Leavanny, who began swaying back and forth, and staggered towards Furret. Leavanny was a male. "Ice beam!" Nick commanded. Furret shot a devastating beam of bright blue ice straight into Leavanny's head. Just looking at it made me shiver. A powerful blast like that would be a one hit knock out. Leavanny collapsed on the ground.

"Leavanny is unable to battle, Furret wins!"

"Leavanny, come back! Go, Mismagius!" Trinity sent out a Mismagius. It had a strategic look on its face, like it was trying to guess what Furret's favorite food was.

"Furret, use water pulse!"

"Double team!" Mismagius split into multiple copies, water pulse passing clear through a fake hologram.

"Psybeam!" She commanded. The gem on Mismagius's chest glowed, and it shot out a purple beam.

"Furret, use- Furret!" The only problem is that 10 of them were attacking at once, and only one was real. They all hit, and Furret flew backwards and landed on its back.

"Return, Furret! Go, Ampharos!" Ampharos emerged from its pokéball, eager to continue. "Electro ball!" Ampharos formed an orb of yellow electricity and threw it like a baseball.

"Shadow ball!" Trinity called. Mismagius formed a black orb, and threw it the same way. The two attacks collided, canceling each other out. Nick stood there, the look on his face told me his mind was racing. Then the look changed the look one gets when getting a spontaneous idea.

"Electro ball!" Nick commanded. I knew Nick's battle style pretty well. I a move didn't work, he wouldn't use it twice in a row without having a really good reason. Ampharos chucked another electric sphere. "Now hit it with thunder, hurry!"

"Mismagius, shadow ball!" Mismagius threw a black orb to cancel out the electro ball. Ampharos sent a massive jolt of power, which was absorbed by the electro ball, making it much, much bigger. The two attacks collided, but didn't cancel each other out. Electro ball? ...More like electro boulder. The thing was twice Mismagius's size, and it was moving with momentum so great it didn't have time to dodge. Mismagius was intercepted by the behemoth spheroid and was carried along with it all the way to the back wall, where it exploded. Once the smoke cleared, Mismagius was revealed to be knocked out.

"Mismagius is unable to battle, Ampharos wins!"

"Mismagius, return!" Trinity didn't look too worried, which surprised me. Nick still had all of his pokémon, and Trinity only had one. I wondered who it was.

"Gardevoir, let's go!" A Gardevoir came out, and it stared down Ampharos, the message in its eyes clear. Come at me. I dare you. Just one look, not even directed toward me, and I knew this was one powerful pokémon. I waited for Trinity to make a move.

"Gardevoir, psyshock!" Gardevoir held out its arm, which began sparking with pink electricity, which shot out from her arm and missed Ampharos by a millimeter. Ampharos had ducked just in time. The attack was so sudden and unexpected, I was surprised Ampharos moved at all.

"Ampharos, thunder!"

"Hypnosis!" In the second it usually took Ampharos to charge a thunder, Gardevoir's eyes glowed blue and she stared Ampharos into the ground, literally. Ampharos was not moving, and not going to get up. "Dream eater!" Trinity continued. A transparent black mist came out of Gardevoir's eyes, which then surrounded Ampharos. Ampharos started tossing and turning, then lay completely still.

"Ampharos is unable to battle, Gardevoir wins!"

"Ampharos, come back. Lets go, Furret!" Furret flexed its claws, signaling that it was ready. "Return!" Furret ran towards Gardevoir.

"Psyshock!" Trinity commanded. Gardevoir's arm sparked, then it jerked its arm like it was firing, but didn't. Furret fell for it and jumped. Once her foe was airborne, Gardevoir unleashed the psionic blast. Furret took it head on, and crashed to the ground. "Again!" Trinity called. Gardevoir shot another blast and hit Furret a second time, before it could get up. Furret didn't move.

"Furret is unable to battle, Gardevoir wins!"

Nick was deep in thought again, and I didn't blame him. How can you defeat a pokémon fast enough to hit you twice before you can move?

"Furret, good job. Go, Typhlosion!" Typhlosion came out of its pokéball and roared so loud, even people in the nosebleed seats could hear it. Then it shifted its gaze and leered at Gardevoir. Gardevoir stared the come at me stare. Typhlosion stared back, like it was saying challenge accepted.

As I thought these things, it occurred to me I might be spending too much free time reading memes.

Typhlosion looked so powerful, so ready to go, that I saw a hint of doubt in Trinity's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

"Typhlosion! Fire blast!"

"Dodge!" Gardevoir levitated to the right quickly, and the spinning, flaming star passed by harmlessly. "Shadow ball!" Gardevoir formed a black orb in about a quarter of a second, then lobbed it with a powerful overhand.

"Jump!" Nick called. Typhlosion leaped over the orb. "Land with flame wheel!" Typhlosion started spinning, and was quickly shrouded by flames. Typhlosion landed with a quick momentum, its speed building quickly.

"Psyshock!" Trinity called. Gardevoir shot a blast of energy at the flaming wheel.

"Hop!" Nick called. Surprisingly, Typhlosion actually hopped over the attack. Then it hopped a second time and collided with Gardevoir's torso. The collision knocked Gardevoir back, and Typhlosion stopped spinning and landed on its feet. Typhlosion and Gardevoir locked eyes again. Typhlosion communicated its obvious confidence.

"Gardevoir, hypnosis!"

"Flame wheel again!" Typhlosion curled up in flames and started wheeling at top speeds. Gardevoir's hypnosis didn't work, so it stopped and quickly moved at the last minute, barely avoiding the flame wheel.

"Shadow ball!" Trinity commanded. Gardevoir threw a black orb of energy right at the base of Typhlosion's flame wheel. Typhlosion sprawled in mid air, then crashed to the ground. It got back up easily, and roared another powerful roar.

"Eruption!" Nick called. Typhlosion spewed a combination of smoke, rocks, and lava at Gardevoir.

"Psyshock!" Gardevoir countered it with yet another powerful blast of glittering power, the two attacks exploding. Smoke covered the entire field, up to where Nick and Trinity were standing. Typhlosion leaped backwards out of the smoke. Gardevoir wasn't visible. A pink current of sparks flew abruptly out of the smoke and hit Typhlosion dead on. Typhlosion cried out, then supported itself on its knee and its hand.

"Don't let that stop you!" Nick encouraged. "You're tougher than that! Get on your feet!" Typhlosion stood up, and the fire around its neck grew stronger. The smoke cleared, and Gardevoir was revealed to be standing in the center of the field.

"Hypnosis!" Gardevoir called. Gardevoir stared at Typhlosion with gleaming blue eyes. Typhlosion closed its eyes, then collapsed on the ground. The crowd gasped. Was Gardevoir's hypnosis that strong? Trinity looked doubtful for a split second, then smiled. Gardevoir casually moved over to Typhlosion, and held its arm out.

"Psyshock!" She called. Typhlosion did a head spin. A fast one. It used fire blast at the same time, sending Gardevoir sprawling on the ground. It struggled to get back up. Trinity's mouth dropped. Mine did too. Typhlosion casually walked over and stared Gardevoir down. Back at 'cha, it seemed to say.

"Fire blast!" Nick commanded. Typhlosion let loose a powerful flaming star at point blank, resulting in more smoke. Once it cleared, Gardevoir was clearly out.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle, Typhlosion wins! Nick shall move on to the semi finals!" Nick recalled Typhlosion, and walked off the field. He came up and sat next to me.

"That was pretty cool," I said in an obvious understatement.

"I got lucky," Nick said. "Typhlosion was faking sleep the whole time, but whether or not she believed it was purely up to chance. If she hadn't, I definitely would have lost."

"Lucky for you she didn't, then." Then the next round was announced.

"Our next two competitors are Daniel and Travis!" What a coincidence, I thought. It was the same guy from the night before, who was with Trinity. Kind of funny, me and Nick battling them both one after the other. We both walked down to the middle of the stadium. Travis didn't look beat up anymore, either. He was wearing a simple black T-shirt with blue jeans. His hair was short and clean, so dark black that you could see the sun reflecting off of it.

"He looked at me the same way he had the night before, like he was saying stay away, it's for your own good. The thing was, it wasn't a look of concern for me, it was more of a "get out of my face" look.

We both walked to our ends of the field.

"Travis has the first move! Begin!"

"Go, Hitmonlee!" He sent out a Hitmonlee, jumping lightly on its feet, as if its legs were springs.

"Let's go, Raichu!" I called. Raichu emerged from its pokéball, its cheeks sparking, communicating to me that he was ready to fight and win.

"Hitmonlee, hi jump kick!" Hitmonlee leaped about 10 feet into the air. If it was immobile it the air, I figured maybe I could score a hit.

"Raichu, meet it with iron tail!" Raichu leaned back and coiled its tail, using it like a spring to leap up to the same height a Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee twirled and swung its leg, Raichu doing the same thing with his tail. The two attacks connected and the two pokémon sailed past each other and landed on opposite sides of the field, neither of them injured.

"Double kick!" Travis commanded.

"Hit it with thunder before it can reach you!" I responded. Raichu's cheeks sparked, and he sent a bolt of electricity zooming down toward Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee had already begun its assault, and was halfway down the field already. It leaped up slightly, just enough to dodge thunder, which passed below it by about an inch. Using its momentum, it twirled a 360, spinning and kicking Raichu twice in the gut. Raichu fell to the ground, but sprang back up with determination. They were relatively close, so I decided on a direct attack.

"Thunder punch!" Raichu's fist sparked, and he jumped in the air, descending to hit Hitmonlee.

"Blaze kick!" Hitmonlee's right leg caught fire, and it swung its leg up to meet Raichu's fist. The attacks canceled each other out, and Raichu landed on the ground an inch away from his opponent. "Close combat!" Travis commanded. Hitmonlee unleashed a flurry of kicks, unleashing about 10 hits in 3 seconds. Raichu was sent sprawling back to the ground.

"Raichu is unable to battle! Hitmonlee wins!" Hitmonlee is tough, I thought. And fast. What better way to counter his speed than with better speed?

"Sceptile, go!" Sceptile came out of its pokéball and crossed its arms casually. It glared at Hitmonlee, saying you're seriously going to fight me? "Sceptile, leaf blade!" I called.

"Blaze kick!" Travis responded. I couldn't risk Sceptile getting hit by that.

"Scratch that," I redirected. "Dodge it!" Sceptile ceased its advance and waited for Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee swung its blazing leg through the air futilely as Sceptile did a quick back handspring to dodge.

"Double kick!"

"Leaf blade!" Hitmonlee and Sceptile got in close. Hitmonlee swung its right leg, which Sceptile intercepted with its right arm. Then, as Hitmonlee swung its left leg, Sceptile quickly ducked and sprang back up, hitting Hitmonlee with a powerful green blade.

"Blaze kick!" Hitmonlee sprang up with alarming speed and swung a fiery leg at Sceptile, who jumped back. However, Hitmonlee jumped forward in unison and hit Sceptile dead on with a second kick. Sceptile hit the ground with a crash.

"Come on Sceptile, it's just one hit!" Sceptile pushed itself up with great difficulty. If Sceptile lost, I'd have to pull off this entire battle with just Blaziken, which I'm not sure even he could do.

"Hi jump kick!" Travis called.

"Giga drain!" I commanded. Vines shot from the bulbs on Sceptile's neck, and they wrapped around Hitmonlee's whole body, immobilizing it. It hit the ground with a crash, and the life began to drain out of Hitmonlee to Sceptile. Sceptile was looking reenergized, and Hitmonlee was looking tired, too tired to even struggle. Once Sceptile was fully healed, he released the vines from Hitmonlee, but it still didn't move.

"Hitmonlee is unable to battle! Sceptile wins!" Sceptile cried out in victory. The crowd roared.

"Hitmonlee, come back. Let's go, Bisharp!" Bisharp erupted out of its pokéball, then swung around its arms, showing of its sharp blades. This should be interesting, I thought.

"Bisharp, X-scissor!" Bisharp ran with amazing speed across the field.

"Sceptile, leaf blade!" Sceptile ran with equal speed. The two leaped into the air, their attacks colliding as the two zipped past each other and landed on opposite sides.

"Night slash!"

"Leaf blade!" Bisharp's arms were shrouded in a black aura, and the leaves on Sceptile's arms glowed green. The battle looked like a ninja sword fight. One would slash, the other would jump back and retaliate, the other would block and slash with the other arm. Eventually, Bisharp attacked with both arms, and Sceptile blocked with just one, leaving Bisharp open to an attack from Sceptile's other arm. Sceptile brought its arm around and cut Bisharp horizontally across the face.

"Focus punch!" Sceptile's fist glowed white.

"X-Scissor!" Bisharp crossed its arms. Right as the two attacked each other, the collision sent out a white flash. Once everyone recovered, Sceptile and Bisharp were facing away from each other, both tired. They collapsed at the same time.

"Sceptile and Bisharp are both unable to battle! Send out your final pokémon!"

"Go, Sawk!" Travis threw the pokéball, letting out an energized, dangerous looking Sawk. it was definitely the same tired, beat up Sawk that was with him and Trinity the night before. But this time, Sawk hadn't been battling, and it looked so tough, I realized it was probably perfectly capable of defeating Blaziken.

"Blaziken, let's go!" I called, releasing Blaziken. Blaziken's wrist flared up, and it let out a battle cry.

"This is it, Blaziken," I encouraged. "I need you to win this." Blaziken turned and nodded confidently.

"Flamethrower!" I called. Blaziken spewed a powerful blast of flames at Sawk, who simply jumped quickly to its left, easily avoiding the attack. If flamethrower's not going to hit, I thought, I'll go for direct combat. "Fire punch!" Blaziken ran across the field.

"Stone edge!" Travis commanded. Multiple sharp looking chips of rock broke off the field and spiraled around Sawk. Sawk thrust its arm, shooting all the little chips towards Blaziken. My heart jumped. Stone edge was a powerful move, and could take out Blaziken with a lucky enough shot.

"Blaziken, dodge!" Blaziken started jumping and flipping like he was in The Matrix, avoiding every little chip of stone. Well, almost every one. A few still managed to catch him in the arms and legs, and one hit him straight in the chest. I had to think. If I couldn't hit Sawk with flamethrower, and I couldn't get in close, I would just have to wait for Sawk to make a move.

"Sawk, use brick break!" Sawk ran towards Blaziken.

"Blaziken, copy!" Blaziken ran for Sawk as well, and their fists collided head on. "Blaze kick!"

"Double kick!" Sawk was faster, and managed to kick Blaziken in the side of the torso. However, Blaziken used the force of the attack to spin and quickly kick Sawk back on the way back around. Sawk took the hit in the chest, and stumbled back a few feet.

"Blaziken, jump and use flamethrower!"

"Dodge and use stone edge!" Sawk quickly stepped to the side again, dodging Blaziken's attack. Then it directed another flurry of rock chips towards Blaziken.

"Blaziken, get down!" The attack was directed higher than before, so Blaziken hit the ground, all the pieces of rock passing over him harmlessly. "Now, run in and use fire punch!"

"Counter with double kick!" Blaziken ran up and punched at Sawk, who kicked the incoming fist aside, then jumped up and kicked again, hitting Blaziken again in the side of the head. Blaziken landed hands first, turning the fall into a roll.

"Get in there and use close combat!" Close combat was a move that lowered your defenses, so I knew Travis was trying to end the battle there and then.

"Blaziken, get up and use your custom close combat!" Custom close combat was a personalized move that Blaziken had perfected, where he used a combination of fire punch, brick break, and blaze kick to mimic a fire version of close combat. The upside was that it wasn't technically the same move, so his defenses didn't go down. The two punched and kicked furiously at each other, but neither of them ever managed to land a hit. Eventually, Blaziken went for a punch, but Sawk ducked and swept its foot under Blaziken's feet, knocking him to the ground. Then Sawk jumped onto Blaziken, pinning him down, and belted him in the face with brick break.

"Flamethrower!" I called, and Blaziken spat a blast of flames at Sawk, who quickly rolled backwards, off of Blaziken, to dodge.

"Blaziken, get up!" Blaziken started slowly pushing himself up, but before he could get to his feet, Travis directed Sawk to use stone edge. Sawk sent a cloud of rocks and Blaziken, almost all of which hit Blaziken dead on. Blaziken went sprawling onto the ground, face first.

"Blaziken, come on! You can do it! You're better than Sawk!" I kept trying to encourage him, but he didn't move.

"Blaziken is unable to battle! Sawk- wait, what?"

"Blaziken's wrists flared back up, even stronger than before. He got up slowly to his feet, then let out a powerful battle cry. The flames on his wrists were so huge and powerful, I could feel the heat from a distance. It was Blaziken's ability, blaze.

"Stone edge, one more time!" Sawk sent another blast of rocks, but Blaziken started stepping and flipping so fast, he looked like a blur. Once he dodged them all, he waited for Sawk.

"Close combat!" Sawk closed in on Blaziken, who charged back with a fiery fist so bright, I almost couldn't look at it. Sawk tried to sweep its feet under Blaziken's legs again, but Blaziken jumped up, spun around, and kicked Sawk in the side of the head with a seriously intensely flaming kick. Sawk screamed and flew back on the ground, but got back up with some effort. Sawk charged Blaziken. Sawk jabbed at Blaziken's stomach, but Blaziken slapped the fist aside, and then jabbed Sawk one, two, three time in the stomach, the finished with a powerful blaze kick in the same area. I could see the black burn marks on Sawk's robes as he crumpled over in pain. Sawk lay there, unmoving, clutching its stomach.

"Sawk is unable to battle! Blaziken wins!" I ran over to Blaziken, who caught me in a bear hug. It was a good thing his wrists had stopped flaring by then, or I would have had replace my clothes...

"Blaziken, that was awesome! Do that from now on!" I kidded. As Blaziken put me back down, I looked over to Travis, who was already leaving the stadium. I didn't stop him. The crowd was going ballistic, chanting "Blaziken! Blaziken! Blaziken!" We both smiled and waved, then I let Blaziken back into his pokéball. Nick and Josh greeted me by the exit.

"I only saw that last bit, but it was amazing!" Josh said.

"I've never seen Blaziken do that before! I wonder if Typhlosion can do that." Nick added.

"Hey Josh," I asked. "Did you win your battle?" He looked down at the ground.

"No, I lost. I was battling that Eon guy, and he defeated me with his Machamp. Bayleef only barely managed to beat his Snorlax, then Machamp took him out without trouble..."

"Ouch," I said. "Eon's a tough trainer. I don't blame you for losing, I'm not sure I would've won either. As for me and Nick, though, I hope you watch our battles!"

"Of course!" I was the last battler, so they announced the semifinalists on the main screen.

"There have been some great battlers here today, folks! However, only four have managed to proceed today, and here are there match ups!" The screen displayed the four finalists. I looked up to see who my opponent would be.

"Red," I said out loud. "I'm battling Red for the semi finals."A very small part o me started panicking. I had heard how powerful Red was. Then I remembered Blaziken's feat at the end of the match, and that fear was replaced with confidence.

"And I'm battling Eon." Nick said. "Uh, Josh, got any tips?"

"Step one: Panic. Let's go eat! I'm starved!"

We stopped by e restaurant and ate lunch, then went and trained until 6:00 in the evening. Then we ran into Red.

"Hey, Red!" I challenged. "You ready to lose tomorrow?"

"I wasn't planning on it," He replied.

"Well, plan on it, because I'm not losing!

"Mm. By the way, are there reports of Team Rocket being in the area?"

"Yeah, Josh and I ran into them last night!"

"Team Rocket? Here? How?"

"Uh, they walked?"

"You don't get it. I shut down Team Rocket myself, six years back."

"Well, they've been around longer than I can remember, but that was just when I started my journey. I never heard of them before then."

"I defeated their leader. He said he was giving up Team Rocket and becoming a professor. All after I beat him at the eighth gym in Kanto."

"Um, the eighth gym leader in Kanto is Blue."

"Yeah, Blue. My rival. He became gym leader after I beat him at the pokémon league and became the champion."

"You what? Champion of Kanto? Why haven't I heard of you?"

"You were probably too young. I didn't stay champion for long, but that's a long story. Catch you later." He walked off down the street.

"That guy was the champion of Kanto?" I said to Nick and Josh.

"Hey, I didn't know either," Josh replied. We all took our pokémon to the Pokémon Center, then headed to our rooms for the night.

The next morning, Nick and I got up early. We were excited for our battles. We sprinted over to the stadium and registered our attendance, then we were directed to the waiting room. For the semi finals, battlers were directed to a room with a TV screen, so that they could watch the battle if theirs didn't come first. When it was your turn, you stepped into an elevator that took you straight to the field. After a while, they announced Nick and Eon to be the first battlers.

"Good luck," I told him.

"I'll need it," he replied. Nick started out alright, using his Azumarill against Eon's Umbreon. The battle ended in a draw, then it was Furret versus Absol, which Absol won. Nick sent out Jolteon, resulting in another loss. Next, it was Altaria versus Absol, which Altaria won. Ampharos then battled Snorlax and lost as well. Finally, Typhlosion battled Snorlax into a wall, causing Snorlax to substitute out. After that, however, Typhlosion lost to a Lucario. Nick had lost his battle, and now it was me and Red. Nick looked disappointed as he walked off the field, but was comforted by Josh as he sat down. They had both shared a loss at the hands of the same opponent.

Red and I were then announced, and I stepped into the elevator. It was actually more like a platform, because it had no roof, and I was raised up to the battlefield. Red stood on the other side, his red eyes set with determination.

I stood ready as I prepared to face the ex champion of Kanto.


	6. Hoenn Semifinals, vs Red

I stood at the end of the field, my heart racing. Red showed no sign of nervousness or doubt. He didn't look confident either, just focused. Seriously focused.

"Trainers, come to the middle!" We both walked to the center. "Okay guys, you know what I'm gonna say, no attacking K.O'd pokémon before retrieval, no subbing out twice without making a move, blah blah blah." Red turned to go back to his end.

"Red," I said. "No holding back." He looked back at me.

"None." We both walked to our ends. The announcer came over the intercom.

"All right, folks, you are all gathered here today to see a red hot battle between Red and Daniel! Both trainers have struggled to make it to the top, but only one will be battling Eon for the final round! Let's make it a great battle!"

"Daniel has the first move! Trainers, begin!"

"Go, Luxray!" I called. Luxray looked tough and ready to go.

"Infernape, come out," Red sent out an Infernape.

"Luxray, thunder!" Luxray sent a jolt of lightning down at Infernape at top speed.

"Dodge," Red called. Infernape rolled forward, going under the attack. "Fire blast!" Infernape spat up a massive, spinning, flaming star a Luxray.

"Intercept with thunder!" Luxray had already taken the hit full on. He fell to the ground and got back up, shaking. "Shadow claw!"

"Stone edge," Red responded. Bits of rock formed around Infernape. With a thrust of its hand, it sent them flying for Luxray.

"Double team!" I called. Luxray quickly split into multiple copies, the wide range of stone edge hitting most of them. The real one, unfortunately, was one of the unfortunate ones. Luxray hit the ground again, struggling immensely to get to his feet.

"Iron tail, and spin!" Luxray started running, his tail gleaming.

"Stone edge," Red called. Infernape thrust another flurry of sharp stones. Luxray jumped and did a front flip, sending himself spinning repeatedly. Luxray's metallic tail crashed through all the stones and attempted to come down on Infernape's head, but was caught firmly in Infernape's right hand. Multiple gasps and murmurs came from the crowd. "Throw it down," Red commanded. Infernape swung Luxray around and threw Luxray onto the ground. Luxray started working to get up.

"U-turn," Red continued. Infernape became a blur and rushed for Luxray, curving in a U shape as it got close and punching Luxray in the gut as it went by. Infernape then rushed back to its pokéball. Luxray was back on the ground, and was starting to slowly get up. Then he weakened, and fell back to the ground.

"Luxray is unable to battle! Infernape wins!" I had to send out another pokémon.

"Go, Sceptile!" I released Sceptile, who looked determined to win the next fight.

"Go, Feraligatr," Red threw its pokéball.

"Sceptile, leaf blade!" Sceptile sprinted across the field for Feraligatr.

"Dig." Feraligatr burrowed underground as if it were diving into water. Quickly and easily. Sceptile stopped in his tracks and looked around incredulously. After two seconds of letting Sceptile panic, Feraligatr came back up and hit Sceptile in the jaw.

"Rebound and use leaf blade!" I directed. Sceptile landed on his feet and bounced back, cutting Feraligatr in the stomach. Feraligatr took a step back in recoil.

"Ice beam," Red commanded. He always sounded calm and collected, like it didn't matter if Sceptile hit Feraligatr or not. Feraligatr shot a blue beam of ice from its mouth. Sceptile barely dodged purely by reflex. The downside was that he dodged by falling, landing flat on his back.

"Jump up and use energy ball!"

"Ice beam again." Sceptile sprang up and formed a green orb in his right hand and threw it. Feraligatr shot another beam of ice, which pierced right through the orb and hit Sceptile right in the chest. "Dig." Feraligatr burrowed under ground.

"Wait for it," I said. Sceptile still wasn't fast enough. Feraligatr came up unexpectedly and belted Sceptile in the jaw a second time.

Retaliate with leaf blade again!" Sceptile rebounded from the force with his left foot, and launched himself at Feraligatr, hitting it in the chest as he went by. Feraligatr pivoted on its foot and pounded Sceptile in the chest with its tail. Sceptile went sprawling on the ground.

"Giga drain!" I knew Sceptile was getting tired, and would need the extra energy. Sceptile shot four vines from its neck.

"Aqua tail," Red called. Feraligatr dodged three vines easily, then caught the fourth. The crowd let out another gasp. Feraligatr jerked the vine, pulling Sceptile in, then hit him with its tail again. After playing a short round of paddleball with my friend, Feraligatr allowed Sceptile to fall to the ground, drained of all energy.

"Sceptile is unable to battle! Feraligatr wins!" The crowd roared. I had just lost two pokémon in a row, and it was about time to take one of his out.

"Raichu, go!" Raichu came out of his pokéball, full of energy. "Use thunder!" Raichu shot a beam of sizzling lightning towards Feraligatr.

"Dig," Red directed. Feraligatr burrowed underground with amazing speed, then came back up and hit Raichu - all in a meager three seconds. Raichu kept on his feet, although he still skidded backwards quite a ways.

"Aqua tail." For the first time during the battle, Red was shifting to offense. If Red wasn't doing it much, maybe it wasn't his strong point. If it wasn't, I could turn that to my advantage.

"Iron tail!" Raichu and Feraligatr's tails collided, but didn't separate. The two were locked into a contest of brute strength, and Raichu was slipping.

"Raichu, thunder!"

"Ice beam." Feraligatr gave way and ducked, letting Raichu pass over it. Then it stood up and blasted an icy beam at Raichu. Raichu's cheeks sparked, and he let loose a blast of electricity, canceling out the ice beam. The collision created a cloud of smoke, and Feraligatr was visible at the other end.

"Volt tackle!" I called. Raichu charged Feraligatr, shrouded in a barrier of yellow electricity. Feraligatr was having trouble seeing.

"Hm. Feraligatr, block it." Feraligatr held out its hands, intercepting the attack. It reduced the damage a little, but Feraligatr still took a massive amount of the attack. Feraligatr and Raichu stood in the middle of the field, about five feet away from each other. Feraligatr gave way and collapsed.

"Feraligatr is unable to battle! Raichu wins!"

Red recalled Feraligatr.

"Metagross, go!" Metagross landed with a loud crash. I knew about Metagross's defense, so I'd have to find a way through it.

"Raichu, thunder!" Raichu sent a volt of electricity at Metagross. I looked at Red, and I could see he was getting more into the battle. Maybe Feraligatr didn't get defeated that often.

"Use rock throw!" Metagross duck it's front right arm into the ground bringing out a huge chunk of rock, then tossed it at the thunder attack. Thunder hit it, destroying the rock, but also wasting the attack.

"Psychic, now!" Metagross shot a blue beam from its eyes, connecting with Raichu. Raichu was outlined in blue, and without any movement from Metagross, Raichu was sent flying into the wall. Raichu lay there, leaning against the wall.

"Raichu is unable to battle! Metagross wins!"

"Raichu, return! Nice job, Raichu. That's one less Feraligatr to worry about. Let's go, Charizard!" Charizard emerged with a thunderous roar, the crowd screaming with excitement.

"Metagross, return," Red recalled Metagross. I figured as much, since it had a disadvantage. "Go, Dragonite!" Dragonite emerged with an equally thunderous roar. Dragonite and Charizard both locked eyes.

"Charizard, flamethrower!" Charizard breathed a blast of fire headed straight for Dragonite.

"Thunder, go!" Dragonite shot a blast of electricity from the horns on its head, piercing right through the flames.

"Charizard, fly!"

"Follow it!" Charizard and Dragonite both ascended high into the air, read to get on with it. "Thunder, again!" Dragonite shot another beam of energy at Charizard.

"Dodge, then wing attack!" Charizard flew down out of the way of thunder, then back up, headed for Dragonite.

"Meet it with dragon rush!" Dragonite flew down towards Charizard, enveloped in a bright blue, atmospheric light.

"Charizard, fake!" Charizard flew to the left at the last minute, leaving Dragonite headed downward. "Flamethrower!" Charizard threw up another blast of flames, aiming it for Dragonite.

"Evade, then use dragon rush!" Dragonite flew to the side, then up towards Charizard.

"Dragon tail!" Since Charizard was up higher than Dragonite, he could fall a little bit to gain more momentum for his attack. He did. He fell two feet, then slammed his tail into Dragonite as it attempted to crash into him. The two attacks canceled each other out, but before Charizard could respond, Dragonite grabbed his tail.

"Thunder, now!" Red commanded. Dragonite's horns sparked, and its entire body was covered in electricity, transferring it all to Charizard.

"Charizard, keep strong! Use dragon tail!" Once Dragonite began to let up with thunder, Charizard jerked his tail free with tremendous force, then brought it back around and hit Dragonite straight in the chest. Dragonite fell to the ground with a loud crash.

"Swoop down for a wing attack!" I called. Charizard descended headfirst as Dragonite got up, then redirected himself to aim straight for Dragonite.

"Hm. Dragonite, catch it." Dragonite held out its arms, catching Charizard's wings as he went by. Dragonite then shifted its grip and latch onto Charizard's chest.

"Charizard, shake it off!" Charizard spun and swerved, but Dragonite wouldn't be removed.

"Hyper beam, go!" Dragonite spat a devastating beam of pure white energy directly into Charizard's chest. Charizard then fell to the ground, as Dragonite descended leisurely. Charizard got up, shaking, but managed to stand firm.

"Dragonite, return." Red retrieved Dragonite. "Aggron, go!" Aggron came out of its pokéball, roaring furiously and glaring at Charizard. Charizard didn't have much of an advantage here.

"Aggron, flash cannon!" Aggron shot a silver beam of energy from its mouth.

"Charizard, fly!" Charizard shot up into the air. "Flamethrower!" Charizard shot a blast of fire from its mouth, headed down at Aggron.

"Aggron, block it!" Aggron crossed its arms over its face. The flamethrower hit dead on, but Aggron then lowered its arms, unharmed. "Stealth rock!" Aggron slammed it's huge metal tail into the ground, releasing massive boulders that scattered all around my side of the field. Great. Any time I switched out, those boulders would crash into my pokémon.

"Charizard, flamethrower again!" Charizard spewed a stream of fire at Aggron.

"Aggron, flash cannon!" Aggron shot a powerful beam of gleaming silver energy from its mouth, completely overwhelming the flamethrower and hitting Charizard straight in the torso. Charizard hit the ground near Aggron.

"Charizard, get up, quick!" Charizard tried to push himself up, but he had taken too many hits, and was too slow.

"Hammer arm!" Aggron raised a glowing white arm high above its head, then brought it down onto Charizard's head with a crash.

"Charizard is unable to battle! Aggron is the winner!" Two pokémon left. Red still had five. Time to step it up, I thought.

"Scizor, let's go!" Scizor emerged from its pokéball, only to be crushed by the massive boulders that were lying in wait for him. He got back up, shaken, but still ready. "Scizor," I coached, "Aggron may be powerful, but you're much faster. Just don't let it hit you, and you'll be good, all right? Now, let's take this thing out." Scizor turned his head and nodded back to me.

"Good, now, metal claw!" Scizor flew like the wind straight for Aggron.

"Aggron, block it!" Red commanded. Aggron crossed its arms, taking the attack head on, and not moving an inch. Then it uncrossed its arms, shoving Scizor backwards quite a ways. Straight attacks aren't working against Aggron's defense, I thought. We'll just have to make them work.

"Scizor, swords dance!" Scizor rapidly spun in place, then stopped suddenly, looking more ready and more aggressive.

"Aggron, flash cannon!" Aggron blasted a silver beam of power at Scizor.

"Dodge and use agility," I called. Scizor flew into the air and out of the way of the attack. Then he flew in a series of very fast figure eights. Now that Scizor was in the air, all Aggron could use was flash cannon, which was neither accurate nor even of standard effectiveness. Not only that, but with the distance between the two, Scizor would have more than enough time to react and dodge. While that happened, I would continue to power up.

"Scizor, swords dance, again!" Scizor rapidly spun in place once more.

"Aggron, return." Red called. "Dragonite, go!" Dragonite erupted from its pokéball, glaring a challenge at Scizor. "Fly!" Dragonite flew into the air, headed for Scizor. "Dragon rush!"

"Hold still," I commanded, "then dodge at the last second. Scizor waited, then quickly flew aside when Dragonite got close. "Now, chase after it!" Scizor did so, quickly tailing Dragonite as it slowed down. "X-Scissor!" I called. Dragonite finally slowed down and turned around, only to be hit in the face with two crossed claws. Dragonite flew back a little, then retaliated by slamming its tail into Scizor's body. Scizor was sent flying, but he regained his balance before he fell and hit the ground.

"Metal claw!" I commanded. Scizor back up towards Dragonite.

"Thunder," Red called. Dragonite sent a blast of sizzling yellow lightning at Scizor, but Scizor anticipated the attack, and quickly dove below it. Then, as fast as a bullet, he flew in and drove his claw into Dragonite's stomach. Dragonite flinched, allowing Scizor to follow up with another hit to the head, causing it to flinch again, and so on. Scizor finished the flurry of attacks with an X-scissor, sending Dragonite crashing into the ground.

"Dragonite is unable to battle! Scizor wins!" Two down, four to go. I regained a little confidence, but still remembered that Red still had one pokémon that was yet to be revealed, and I knew who it was.

"Infernape, let's go!" Call me crazy, but I didn't switch out for Blaziken just yet. Scizor had used swords dance twice already, leading me to believe I might be able to take it out with some luck.

"Scizor, remember our plan. Get in, get out, don't take any hits. Got it?" Scizor turned and nodded.

"Get in there and use X-scissor!"

"Stone edge," Red commanded. Small rocks broke out of the ground and spiraled around Infernape. Infernape thrust its arm, and all the rocks flew towards Scizor. Scizor took most of them, and hit the ground. When he tried to get back up, he found Infernape directly on top of him.

"Fire blast!" Red called. Infernape opened its mouth. Scizor would have to move fast.

"X-scissor!" I shouted, then Scizor reached up and hit Infernape in the face with two crossed arms. Infernape fell onto its back. Scizor and Infernape both got up at the same time.

"Infernape, fire blast!" Infernape was looking tired, but it managed to let out a flaming star, headed for Scizor. Scizor wouldn't be able to dodge it. Scizor knew it, too.

Scizor rushed straight into the attack. He made his way through the flames over to Infernape, and with the little momentum he had left, he slashed Infernape across the face with a powerful metal claw. Infernape fell backwards onto the ground, and Scizor kept moving, ending up on top of it.

"Both pokémon are unable to battle! The battle is a draw!" It was now one to four. I would need a miracle now.

"Aggron, go!" Red threw the pokéball, letting loose the roaring pokémon.

"Go! Blaziken!" Blaziken emerged from his pokéball screaming, with wrists flared. I winning the battle was a long shot, but Blaziken would definitely give Red a tough time. I didn't want Blaziken to get reckless and start taking hits, so I decided to take the defensive.

"Aggron, flash cannon!" The time it would take to launch and finish the attack would be a perfect opportunity to attack.

"Blaziken, dodge and move in!" Blaziken dove do the ground, rolled, and sprang back up into a dead sprint. Aggron finished the attack sooner than I expected.

"Hammer arm!" Red commanded. Aggron raised its arm and waited for Blaziken to finish his advance. Just as Blaziken was moving into range, I made my move.

"Blaziken, slide to the ground and use blaze kick!" Blaziken slid under Aggron's attack, ending up right at its feet. He then rolled up onto his back and extended a leg, harshly connecting with Aggron's jaw. Blaziken repeated the attack with the other leg. Aggron took two steps back, allowing Blaziken to kick himself back up. I needed to end the round as quickly as possible.

"Follow up with brick break!" Blaziken again moved into range, looking for an opening.

"Hammer arm!" Red called, trying to overpower Blaziken with Aggron's sheer mass. Aggron raised it's arm, then brought it back down in a chopping motion. In this case, Aggron's size was a disadvantage, being the reason for its slow attacks. Blaziken took a quick baby step to the right, then nailed Aggron with a right hook that knocked it flat on its side.

"Aggron is unable to battle! Blaziken wins!" Red didn't look too surprised. He simply picked out his next pokémon, his face lacking of any emotion but determination.

"Espeon, go!" The ball released Espeon, his fastest, smallest, and (to poor Blaziken) most dangerous pokémon. He had the first move.

"Espeon, psybeam!" Espeon's eyes glowed bright blue, then released two devastating beams of blue energy. Against an attack that fast, Blaziken's only option was to let himself fall awkwardly to the ground, landing flat on his back.

"Swift!" Before Blaziken could get back on his feet, he was bombarded with a mass of stars, all crashing to the ground in his general vicinity. When the dust cleared, Blaziken had gotten back up. I figured it would be best to fight this opponent from a distance.

"Blaziken, flamethrower! Blaziken spewed a jet of flames at Espeon, who shot two more blue beams from its eyes, piercing the flames and completely abolishing them. Blaziken quickly stepped to the side to avoid the beams of light.

"Iron tail," Red called. Espeon rushed at Blaziken, its tail gleaming silver. Blaziken awaited the attack. Espeon backflipped, swinging its tail upward at Blaziken, who jumped back just in time. That wasn't the end, though. Espeon landed, wasting no time to leap into the air and front flip, this time swinging its tail downward. Blaziken quickly rolled underneath Espeon, then pivoted to face it. Blaziken rushed into battle without waiting for direction. Espeon was acting too fast for me to give commands, so Blaziken was taking it on by himself.

Blaziken thrust its fist out towards Espeon's head, but Espeon did a quick 180, intercepting its tail with Blaziken's punch. It span back around quick enough to dodge the second punch, then hit the center of Blaziken's chest with a powerful psybeam. Blaziken fell onto his back, then kicked himself back up. He was breathing hard, and looked a bit uncoordinated. I was worried this would be it.

"Blaziken, you okay?" I called. I was guessing Red was a little worried for Blaziken too, because he waited for Blaziken to nod before continuing. Once he did, Espeon was all over him.

Espeon shot another beam, which Blaziken dodged by pure reflex. Before Blaziken could even turn its head to look for Espeon, Espeon leaped into the air and did a 360, its tail connecting directly with Blaziken's cheekbone. The blow sent Blaziken to the ground. He didn't even make an effort to get up.

"Blaziken is unable to battle! The winner of this match is Red! Red and Eon will meet tonight at 7:00 for the final championship match!" I stood at my end, staring at my fallen Blaziken. I felt no disappointment, only satisfaction. Satisfaction with the amazing fight my pokémon and I had put up. Red and I both walked to the center of the field and grasped each other's hand.

"You did great," I congratulated, "your pokémon are the best I've ever seen or fought. Good luck against Eon, I'll be cheering for you!"

"Your strategy was excellently played out. Your Blaziken was something else. Great battle!" Although I thought it'd never happen, he smiled. He smiled, then walked out of the stadium.

Since when does Red smile?

Nick and Josh both ran over to me.

"You did great!" Josh exclaimed, "You didn't win, but you did the best you could, and that's what matters!"

"Red was awesome," Nick added, "I can't wait to see him battle Eon tonight!"

I agreed with Nick. A battle between Red and Eon was one battle that was sure not to be a disappointment.


	7. Hoenn Championships: Red Vs Eon

After the match, Josh, Nick and I went to get something to eat. We saw Red on the way there.

"Hey Red," Josh began, "great battle today! Want to come eat with us?"

Red gave him a reluctant look. "Fine, I guess," he shifted his attention to Nick. "You battled Eon last round, right?"

"Yeah, come with us, I'll give you some pointers." We went into the building, got ourselves some food and sat down. Red seemed eager to hear about his opponent.

"How does he fight?" He said to Nick.

"Who?" Nick replied, his mouth full of food.

"Eon. His style?" Red asked, just a little exasperated.

"Oh, him." Nick said, like a light just went off. He swallowed, then looked at the table for a few seconds. "Unpredictable," He said, finally.

"That's helpful," I added with sarcasm. Red was staring him down expectantly.

"He slaughtered me. It's almost like he knows what you're going to do before you do it. The creepiest part about it was that he almost never spoke - while I was frantically giving commands and pointing emphatically, he was polishing his glasses."

"That's how it was for me, too," Josh added.

"I'll just fight unpredictably, then," Red decided. "He knows what you're going to do most likely because he sets you up into a certain position where you have only one option. I've fought those types before. You just have to work hard not to get into those spots, and if you do, do something that seems completely stupid."

"He also likes to wait for his opponent to move first," I contributed. "He doesn't necessarily fight defensively, he just waits for a move so he can get the ball rolling easier."

"I hope I don't go first, then," He replied.

"It may be his strategy that works well," Nick continued, "But honestly, his pokémon are all just amazing. Their power, their speed, their coordination, it was all just so... Unbeatable."

"Yeah well, so was Red," I chimed in again.

"Victory is never guaranteed," Red said, not making eye contact with anyone, "But the effort you put in can be. If I honestly fight my hardest, and my hardest is better than his hardest, I'll win it." He looked at Nick again. "What about his pokémon?"

Nick shook his head. "The only pokémon who's style was obvious was his Umbreon. It harasses you. It just keeps on taking hits, only to confuse you and heal itself, leaving you completely helpless. It's endurance is never ending."

"What about his Absol?" I asked. "He always has it with him. He must use it all the time, right?"

"Well, his Absol is mostly-" He was cut off by a guy screaming outside. He sounded angry. A group of people got up from their table and went outside.

"The heck is going on?" I asked myself. The four of us got up and went outside, where a crowd of people had gathered around two others. One was a bald guy who had on a sleeveless leather jacket, torn black jeans, and a lower lip piercing. His arms were huge, as was the rest of his body. He stood about a head taller than the guy he was shouting at. The guy he was shouting at was Eon.

"Sorry? SORRY? Your Absol nearly took my hand off!"

"I was watching. Snowflake was merely sniffing your chicken wing - hardly a 'nearly took your hand off'. Nevertheless, it will not happen again." Eon turned and began to walk away.

"Get back here! I challenge you to a battle!" Eon stopped and turned his head slightly. He didn't look angry, just empathetic. "I want you to battle me yourself with that son of a-"

Absol barked before he could say anything more, then growled while glaring daggers at him. Now Eon looked just slightly irritated, like his favorite restaurant was closed.

"I'll ask you kindly not to speak of my friend in such a derogatory manner."

"Enough talk. Fight!" He threw his pokéball, which a Toxicroak came out of. Absol barked at Eon, then growled at the Toxicroak. Eon sighed. The crowd was chanting:

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"I battle you only because of the interest Snowflake shows," Eon said nonchalantly.

"Should we help him out?" I said to Nick and Josh.

"No," Red cut in, "I want to see him battle."

"I'm going to tear that mangy mutt limb from limb," The bald guy sneered. "Toxicroak, poison jab!" Toxicroak bellowed and jabbed at Absol's head. Absol casually stepped to the left. Toxicroak jabbed a second time. Absol dodged, returning to its original position. Toxicroak moved in closer, this time jabbing continuously, trying to get a hit. Absol was forced backwards, but continued to take absolutely no damage. The bald guy was looking furious.

"Revenge!" He yelled out. Toxicroak balled its fist, and aimed it downwards toward Absol, who stepped aside yet again. The attack hit the pavement, leaving a large dent. Toxicroak gripped its hand in pain.

"Absol's just playing around!" I said to Nick. "It's not even trying!"

"It's an obvious strategy," Red said to me, "it's letting Toxicroak wear itself out by launching too many useless attacks."

Toxicroak continued to jab and miss. The bald guy kept yelling, but no hits were made. I looked over at Eon, who stood polishing his glasses, like Nick had said. Toxicroak launched one final attack at Absol, who dodged for what seemed to me like the two-hundred-fifty-fourth time. Toxicroak's fingers drove right into the ground. It cried out loudly, then fell to its knees. The bald guy screamed profanity at his pokémon.

"About done, Absol?" Eon inquired casually. "Finish up, then." Absol ran towards Toxicroak, then the blade on the side of its head was outlined in purple. It jumped, then swung the blade, catching Toxicroak in the side of the neck. It cried out a sharp cry, then fell to the ground. The guy ran over to his pokémon, his fists shaking. The crowd was silent. Eon walked over to his opponent.

"Let me apologize just once more for what happened. I assure you it will not happen again." Eon turned and walked straight through the crowd. The guy just lay there kneeling. The crowd dispersed. Red stood, looking at Toxicroak.

"Good luck tonight," I said.

I walked into the stadium with Nick and Josh on either side of me.

"We early?" Josh asked.

"No, I think they're gonna start in about five minutes," Nick replied.

"There's our seats down there," I said, pointing my finger to the front row. The stadium we were in was huge, and full. I wondered what the stress must be like for Red and Eon. Having thousands of people watch your every decision would definitely not make things easier, not to mention the people at home watching their TV.

It was dark outside the field, with three massive spotlights pointing right at it. There were no spotlights shining in the trainer's areas, and the spotlights were centered really high above the field, so it wouldn't distract the pokémon too much. A voice boomed through the speakers:

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! You are about to see one of the greatest events of the year, live, in your very own seats! We have today two trainers, each that have themselves at least eight badges, and have both won every round of the tournament so far! Tonight, we get to see them battle each other to determine who will win the Hoenn League trophy, and win the honor of battling the elite four for a shot at becoming Hoenn's new champion! Speaking of champion, Hoenn's very own champion, Wallace, happens to be here tonight to watch this once a year event!"

"Wallace," I said to Josh. "How long has he been the champion for?"

"Not very long," Josh said. "He's gotten lucky twice. He became champion originally because the previous champion, Steven Stone, stepped down and gave up the title. He was the eighth gym leader, so he became the champion. A year later, he got beaten by some kid, don't remember his name, but once he won, he didn't take the title either, he just went on his way."

"So Wallace isn't actually so great after all," I said.

"No. He sucks. Plus he dresses like an idiot. If he wasn't hiding behind the elite four, any one of us in this competition could probably obliterate him."

The voice continued:

"Our two competitors tonight are: Red, from Pallet Town!" The crowd exploded, as Red walked into the stadium. He didn't look too nervous, but you could tell he trying hard to stay focused.

"Eon, from... (Where's he from? We don't know? Whaddya mean 'we don't know'? Where's our notes?) Ahem, we seem to have lost our notes for the time being, sorry about that. Anyway, a little insight on our competitors for tonight: Red, originally from Pallet Town, travelled the Kanto region for a year before challenging the Indigo League, and winning! Red was a past champion of Kanto before disappearing for two years, and has now returned to challenge the Hoenn League! On our other side, Eon has... um..."

There was some rustling in the background, and I could hear the announcer asking "Who is this guy, anyways? Do you know anything? I swear, the morons I put up with -" -At that point, he must have realized he was still on the air, because he hurriedly came back with:

"Er, we'll get back to you on that! Let's enjoy a good competition! Trainers, to the middle!"

Red and Eon both walked to the center of the battle field, and the ref gave them their instructions. Even though I was in the front row, the ref was still talking too quietly for me to hear him well. After a while, the two nodded and went back to their sides. The crowd erupted in anticipation.

Red took a great ball. Eon took a Luxury ball. The voice came on once again:

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Red has the first move! Let the battle Begin!" The crowd screamed even louder now.

Red looked down at his great ball and closed his eyes briefly, then threw it confidently. A pokémon I remembered all too well came out, his Feraligatr. Eon took up his Luxury ball and threw it, releasing another pokémon I remembered, his Umbreon.

The crowd was now dead silent.

"Feraligatr, circle around and wait patiently for an opening," Red directed, "When you find one, get close up with slash so it can't confuse you." Being in the front row, and since the field was really big, I was about the same distance from Red as Feraligatr was, allowing me to hear his commands.

Feraligatr stepped sideways again and again, looking for an opening. Umbreon watched warily, not taking its eyes off its opponent. They circled each other for what seemed like minutes, until finally Feraligatr struck.

Feraligatr lunged forward as Umbreon jumped back in unison. Feraligatr continued the assault at top speed, as Umbreon quickly jerked its head from side to side, dodging each attack. Eon hadn't given a single command. This was looking a lot like Absol's battle against Toxicroak.

Feraligatr slashed with one hand under Umbreon, who jumped slightly to avoid the attack. As Umbreon was still in the air, Feraligatr leaped forward and tackled Umbreon full on. Feraligatr landed on top of Umbreon, knees on either side of it, pinning it down. Feraligatr executed multiple slashes on Umbreon's face. As Umbreon endured each hit, it began to glow purple, then used all of its energy to wriggle free. Feraligatr was forced up, then staggered back. As it tried to keep its balance, Umbreon crashed into it full on with payback. Feraligatr hit the ground.

Half of the crowd was cheering, the other half booing. I was doing neither. I turned to Nick:

"How did it endure so many hits, and still have all that power?" I asked. Nick kept his eyes on the battle.

"That's what it did to me, I told you. It endures all those hits, now it's probably going to confuse him." That's exactly what happened.

"Feraligatr!" Red called, "No eye contact! It's got confuse ray!" Feraligatr stood up, then quickly moved its arm over its eyes. I knew that was a bad idea the moment it happened, and I knew it even more as Umbreon went and crashed into the self-blinded pokémon a second time. Feraligatr hit the dirt again. As it started to get up, Umbreon began to glow white as it healed itself with moonlight. Red saw the opportunity.

"Feraligatr! Hit it, NOW!" He yelled. Feraligatr sprinted over and slashed at Umbreon. A little too carelessly. Umbreon ducked, and Feraligatr caught its legs on Umbreon's middle body. Luckily, it was able to stop itself with its hands and turn the trip into a roll. Umbreon looked back at its opponent, refreshed and ready to roll. Feraligatr had taken two hits, so it wasn't looking too hot.

"Feraligatr, ice beam!" Feraligatr finished the roll, opened its jaws, and let out a bright, freezing beam of ice straight at Umbreon.

"Now, dig!" Umbreon sidestepped to avoid the blast, but returned its gaze only to find a big hole where its opponent had been. No sooner than that did Feraligatr emerge from the ground and belt Umbreon in the jaw on its way up. Umbreon took a step back in recoil. Finally, a hit, I thought to myself.

Feraligatr and Umbreon locked eyes. That was not the smartest thing for Feraligatr to do. Umbreon's eyes glowed bright blue, and Feraligatr's eyes started going all over the place, as did his body.

"Feraligatr, return," Red commanded. He looked a little discouraged. He spent a few seconds looking at Eon, trying to think up a strategy. He apparently made a decision, then picked a safari ball off his belt.

"Heracross, go!" Heracross emerged from the ball, banged its fists together, and cried out at Umbreon. It was a good matchup, I thought. The only disadvantage to switching out in the middle of a bout, though, was that the opponent then has an opportunity to switch out as well. That's what happened. Eon apparently didn't like playing type disadvantages, because he promptly switched out for his Lucario. Lucario took its stance, then glared at Heracross. Red had the first move, he switched out. He milled over it for a while, then made a decision.

"Heracross, brick break!" Heracross began to make its way across the field. Lucario put its hands together and began to form a dark blue aura sphere in-between them. It grew at alarming speed, then Lucario launched it. Heracross extended its wing, then flew low to the ground to avoid it. With its momentum still going, it swung its fist as it passed Lucario, who quickly ducked to avoid the then had to stop itself, and while it did, Lucario stared right at it with a gleaming gaze of amber. Heracross was outlined in an uncanny golden light, began to levitate slightly, and was hurled with great force to the other side of the field.

As it pushed itself up, Lucario chased it down to the side of the field it was on. Once Lucario figured it was close enough, it launched itself into the air, put its hands together, formed a conglomerate of luminescent green orbs that it then proceeded to fire as dragon pulse down toward Heracross - Heracross took the hit before it could get up. The crowd was completely silent. Heracross began to push itself up, but then exhausted itself, falling back down to the ground.

"Heracross is unable to battle," the ref called, "Lucario wins!" The crowd absolutely exploded.

First knock out of the match. This battle was slow moving, but exciting.

Red took up his third ball, this one a mere pokéball.

"Nidoking, let's go!" The roaring Nidoking erupted from the ball, leaving a fierce impression on all who saw it. I wasn't quite so sure how wise his decision was. Poison attacks wouldn't have any effect on a steel type, so he'd be stuck with moves of another type, which wouldn't give him any *same type* bonuses. Of course, there was always Nidoking's secondary ground typing, which would have a useful effect against Lucario's steel side.

Red, however, seemed to have a plan of his own.

"Nidoking, earthquake!" Nidoking stomped the ground, causing the whole stadium to shake. Lucario caught the worst of it, swinging its arms violently to keep its balance. Once the attack ended, Lucario was down on one knee, trying to recover.

"Agility," Red called. Nidoking started to run towards Lucario. His speed had nearly doubled by the time he reached Lucario. "Brick break!" Red commanded. Just like Heracross, Nidoking swung his arm at Lucario as he went by. Lucario ducked, and Nidoking had to stop himself. Lucario then focused its gaze at him, going for another psychic.

Nidoking pounded his foot to the ground again, immobilizing his opponent. As Lucario staggered back and forth, Nidoking ran over, unaffected by the earthquake. He raised his fist for another shot at brick break. Shaken from the earthquake, Lucario was unable to dodge, but still saw the attack coming. It dropped to the ground, avoiding the punch, did a backwards somersault, then kicked itself back up into a standing position.

"Amazing recovery," I said to Josh.

"That Lucario has great reflexes," Josh replied, "but I don't know if it can keep up against Nidoking's super effective attacks."

Lucario tried to focus in for another psychic. Red saw the attack coming, despite the lack of commands Eon was giving.

"Nidoking, move!" Red shouted. Nidoking dropped and rolled to his left. Lucario kept trying to focus, but Nidoking began running in circles around Lucario, making the circle smaller as he ran, trying to close in without getting hit. Lucario saw through the tactic, and stopped trying to focus in on its opponent. I had seen through the tactic, too. Running in circles like that, he was obviously trying to make Lucario dizzy. Lucario was definitely one smart pokémon.

Instead, Lucario launched itself into a backflip, getting out of the circle Nidoking was running in. Unfortunately for it, it had landed right in Nidoking's path. Nidoking closed the gap instantly, swinging its fist at Lucario for another hit. Lucario leaned backwards, taking a step back in order not to fall over. Nidoking kept up the punches, which Lucario continued to avoid. Leaning, ducking, blocking, jumping.

"Nidoking just can't land a hit," I said to Josh. "Lucario is just way too fast."

"Dragon tail," Red commanded. Nidoking swept his tail underneath Lucario, which Lucario did a backflip to avoid.

"Earthquake!" Red continued. Nidoking and Lucario's feet both hit the ground at the exact same time. Lucario fell to its knee, clenching its jaw, enduring the hit. Nidoking jumped into the air. As he came back down, his fist connected directly with Lucario's jaw. Lucario hit the dirt, while the crowd screamed.

I looked over at Eon, who for the first time, looked a little concerned. The crowd chanted:

"Ni-do-king! Ni-do-king! Ni-do-king!" Nidoking stood dominantly over Lucario, who's eyes were half open and dazed looking. Eventually the half open eyes changed to not open at all.

"Lucario is unable to battle! Nidoking wins!" The crowd was so loud my seat was vibrating. Eon recalled his Lucario. He shouted over to Red:

"I must say, Red, you are certainly a better trainer than most out here. This is the first time Raj has fainted in battle yet."

"I'm not your run of the mill trainer," he replied, "give me your best shot."

"That I will." Eon took another Luxury ball, letting out his Umbreon for the second time. This time Eon had the first move, something we all knew wasn't his strong point. That didn't necessarily mean it was his weak point, either.

"You think Eon's going to go for the harassment again?" I asked Nick.

"Probably, but he won't go for poison, it won't work. Which means a big card has been taken out of play here," he replied.

Umbreon attempted to catch Nidoking with a confuse ray, but Red saw right through it.

"No eye contact!" He shouted. "Earthquake!" Nidoking stomped the ground, but Umbreon leaped into the air. On its way down, it started glowing purple. "Roll!" Red commanded. Nidoking rolled forward, leaving Umbreon with its back turned as it landed. It turned around, only to have a brick break planted on its left cheekbone. It staggered back a ways, then stood firm. Its body started glowing white as it healed itself.

"Stop it, poison jab!" Nidoking jumped forward, jabbing at Umbreon and forcing it to cancel its healing process to jump back. "Agility," Red commanded. Nidoking charged Umbreon, doubling his speed as it ran. Umbreon glowed purple and charged as well. Nidoking swung his arm at the airborne Umbreon, but missed as Umbreon crashed directly into its upper torso. Nidoking planted his foot and punched Umbreon aside, sending it to the ground. Umbreon got up with a little effort, when Eon recalled it.

"Nidoking resists Umbreon's attacks really well," I said to Josh.

"Yeah, but there's no guarantee he'll resist the next pokémon's moves."

Absol, who had been standing beside Eon this whole time, barked eagerly. Eon looked down at it and nodded. Absol ran onto the field, ready to fight. Red had the first move now.

"Earthquake," Red commanded. Nidoking raised his foot, but before he could bring it back down, Absol extended its paw, which shot out a translucent black fist, sucker punch. The fist shot out and hit Nidoking in the jaw at literally lightning speed. Nidoking staggered back a little, and by the time he recovered, Absol was 3 feet away and still moving. It jumped up to the same level as Nidoking's head. The blade on the side of its head was outlined in gold, which it then swung, catching Nidoking on the side of the neck. That attack was psycho cut, but gold…?

Nidoking spun a 180 before landing flat on his stomach. The crowd cheered as Nidoking tried immensely hard to push himself up. Once it did, it turned back to Red, who nodded solemnly. Nidoking returned the nod. I think they both knew they weren't winning this round.

"Poison jab," Red called. Nidoking's hand glowed purple, then it jabbed at Absol, who dove forward to dodge. Now that it was in close range, it jumped, latching itself onto Nidoking's shoulders. Its blade glowed gold as it hit Nidoking in the head with another psycho cut. Nidoking fell backwards to the ground, its eyes squinted shut.

"Nidoking is unable to battle! Absol wins!" The crowd exploded… Again. Red was down one, I hoped he could keep up with Eon's strategy.

Red picked another pokéball from his belt.

"Arcanine, go!" Arcanine came out of the pokéball with a roar. Red thought for a while before moving. He looked at Absol for quite a while, then made a command.

"Flamethrower, go!" Arcanine spat up a stream of flames. Absol ducked under them, then began to run at Arcanine. Absol jumped, and was about to use night slash.

"Duck," Red responded. Arcanine lowered its body, and Absol barely missed by half an inch. "Extreme speed," Red continued, and Arcanine became a blur, flying past Absol and back continuously. Every time he passed, Absol apparently took a hit, seeing as it was wincing when Arcanine finished.

"Flame charge," At this point, Red's battle style was more aggressive than I'd ever seen it. Arcanine was covered in flames as it promptly charged Absol. Absol shot another black fist from its paw, which, surprisingly, dissipated as it hit Arcanine, who kept running. Arcanine closed in, but Absol sidestepped, avoiding the charge.

"Again," Red called. It occurred to me that Red wasn't only trying to do damage; this was his way of increasing Arcanine's speed. If this kept up, Absol might not be fast enough to dodge its attacks anymore. Arcanine charged a second time, immersed in fire. Absol leapt over the attack this time.

"Again," Red continued. I noticed the crowd wasn't cheering, just watching with tension. Arcanine charged a third time, faster than ever. Eon broke a smile only noticeable to me, being in the front row. Absol tensed, and multiple shards of rock were raised from the ground. They spiraled quickly around Absol, and with a bark, they all went flying towards the charging Arcanine in a fierce stone edge attack. Arcanine had absolutely no time to stop; instead, it went crashing headfirst into the attack, kicking up too much dust for everyone to see the result. Once it cleared, Arcanine could be seen lying on the ground, pushing itself up.

Absol took the opportunity and ran towards Arcanine, the blade on its head glowing black. Arcanine stood up and locked eyes with Absol.

"Wait," Red assured. Absol closed in and swung its head. As it was about an inch away from Arcanine's, Arcanine opened its mouth, releasing a blazing stream of fire, so powerful it pushed Absol backwards. Absol skidded across the dirt, then tried to get up. Before it could, Eon called it back.

"Snowflake, come here," He said. Snowflake nodded, then went back to Eon's side. Eon threw a Luxury ball, releasing Umbreon for the third time. Red stuck with Arcanine.

"Arcanine, flame charge!" Red commanded. Arcanine charged, covered in flames, while Umbreon charged, glowing the ghastly violet that was its mark. They crashed into each other, both clawing at the other so they wouldn't keep going and hit the dirt. They both landed, still latched onto each other. "Fire fang!" Red yelled. Arcanine's mouth filled with flames as it bit into Umbreon's neck. Umbreon bit back with glowing purple teeth. Toxic. Red would have to finish this fast, Arcanine wouldn't last long now. Umbreon broke away from Arcanine, breathing heavily. Arcanine convulsed, then barked back at Red. Red nodded.

"Flamethrower!" Arcanine threw up another blast of flames at Umbreon, who ducked, then began to charge, glowing purple. Arcanine charged as well, although not with flame charge this time. Arcanine crouched in preparation to jump, as did Umbreon. The only difference is that Umbreon jumped, and Arcanine didn't. Umbreon began to fall back down, as Arcanine followed, from the ground. Umbreon landed and did a 180, seeking its opponent. Unfortunately for it, it was greeted with blazing hot white flames that even I could feel from where I was sitting. That's overheat for you. Umbreon was completely covered in the attack. When the fire cleared, it was lying on the ground, motionless – but with knowing a grin on its face.

"Umbreon is unable to battle! Arcanine- wait!" Arcanine jerked its head back, shuddered one last time, then fell to the ground, also motionless. "Arcanine and Umbreon are both unable to battle! Trainers, please substitute your pokémon! Red took his pokéball.

"Feraligatr, go!" Feraligatr materialized out of the pokéball. Eon took his pokéball and released a Machamp. In its upper right hand, it was holding a fist sized iron ball. Neither one of them had the first move. It was a free move.

"Dig!" Red called. Feraligatr burrowed underground at top speed. Machamp got down on one knee to feel the ground, then punched as Feraligatr emerged, landing an easy blow while disrupting Feraligatr's attack. It then grabbed Feraligatr by the throat, lifted it up, and then punched it in the side of the jaw with its lower right arm with a force that produced an audible explosion. Feraligatr hit the ground. It barely managed to stand up, and it was looking wobbly. Machamp had used dynamic punch, which confuses anything it hits. Machamp then threw the metal ball in its hand, which connected directly with Feraligatr's forehead. Feraligatr fell over backwards, then made no effort at all to get up.

"Feraligatr is unable to battle! Machamp wins!" Red and Eon locked eyes. Red stared at Eon for a few seconds, then threw his next pokéball.

"Crobat, go!" It was Red's move. Eon took his pokéball to recall Machamp, but never got the chance.

"Mean look," Red commanded. Crobat gave Machamp the stink eye, then Eon put his ball back.

"Well played," He complimented. Red didn't respond.

"Crobat, aerial ace." Crobat flew at unnatural speed towards Machamp. Crobat tackled Machamp in the torso, causing it to take a few steps back. It clutched its chest in pain, then recovered. Crobat continued by slapping Machamp in the face with its wing. Machamp was having trouble matching Crobat's speed.

Machamp raised its arm, and a mass of rock bits broke off from the ground. Red's eyes widened.

"Crobat, air slash!" Crobat flapped its wings, creating numerous blades of wind, all of which went flying towards Machamp. Machamp thrust its arm and sent the rock shards flying at Crobat. The two attacks cancelled each other out perfectly. Crobat then swooped in for another wing attack. Machamp ducked under the attack.

"Eon's in a tough spot," I said to Nick. "He can't switch out, and he can't make any attacks since Crobat's so high up."

"Can't he use stone edge again?" He replied.

"He could, but Crobat would just counter with air slash again."

Crobat flew in with aerial ace, which hit Machamp in the torso a second time. Crobat did a U-turn and flew in again, this time low. Crobat's wing connected with Machamp's shin, sending it to the ground. It then flew high up, turned around, and sent down multiple air slashes, all nailing Machamp in the back as it tried to get up. Machamp tried to push itself up, but couldn't find the endurance.

"Machamp is unable to battle! Crobat wins!" The crowd shook the whole stadium.

"That was fast," Josh commented.

"Yeah, well he had an immense advantage," I responded. Eon looked down at Absol, who nodded and ran out onto the field.

"Mean look," Red commanded, wasting no time. Crobat gave Absol the stink eye.

Absol waited for another attack.

"Air slash," He commanded. Before Crobat hardly even moved, Absol sent a black fist flying up towards Crobat, which connected with it dead on. Crobat balanced itself to see innumerable shards of rock flying in its general direction. Crobat flew down quickly, then continued to fly low to the ground towards Absol. The blade on Absol's glowed dark black, then collided forcefully with Crobat's wing. The two pushed against each other for some time before Crobat broke off and flew high into the air. Absol could only watch, or launch another stone edge, but that would be easily dodged.

"Fly low and hit the dirt near Absol," Red commanded. That seemed just a little odd to me. Crobat flew down to the ground, then formed several air slashes, all of which hit right in front of Absol, kicking up a large dust cloud.

"Now fly higher, and continue your attack!" Red directed. Crobat flew up and flapped numerous air slashes into the dust cloud. Sure Crobat couldn't see exactly where Absol was, but he was relying on the fact that Absol didn't know where the attacks were going to hit. Fortunately for Eon, his pokémon was smarter than that. Absol leapt out of the dust cloud, then formed a cloud of rock shards around it. By the looks of it, Absol had taken some of those air slashes. It launched the shards, which Crobat easily flew away from. Crobat then flew low to the ground for an aerial ace. Absol would have dodged, but the fact that aerial ace never misses allowed the attack to hit Absol right on the side of the head. Absol hit the ground.

"Absol is unable to battle! Crobat wins!" I swear, the crowd was getting louder every time a pokémon got knocked out.

"Finally, they're even!" Josh exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be so certain. The Crobat has taken a sucker punch, but we haven't even seen what Eon will counter it with," I replied skeptically. I'd seen Eon's style so far, and Nick was right, it was unpredictable.

Eon picked out a luxury ball and threw it. Out of it came a pink feline creature with a long tail, which was levitating on its own. A Mew, and if I remembered right, the same Mew I thought I was imagining on the beach a few days back.

The crowd gasped. Mew was said only to be a legend, and now there was a real one, floating right before everyone's very eyes. Red gritted his teeth. He obviously wasn't expecting a Mew, but he wasn't the type to let that mess him up.

"Crobat, air slash," he shouted. Crobat whipped up numerous air blades and sent them all across the field. Mew floated above them all. Suddenly, it formed a cluster of little stars, which then began to spiral around it as it glowed bright white.

"What's that?" I asked Josh.

"I think it's cosmic power," He answered. "It raises the user's physical and special defense."

"Aerial ace," Red continued. Mew took the hit dead on, having no other choice. Crobat then turned and started swinging its wings furiously at Mew, who casually floated out of their way while rubbing its stubby little arms together and grinning mischeviously.

"What's that?" Nick asked me.

"I don't know," I replied. "Josh?"

"I think it's nasty plot," He answered. "It skyrockets the user's special attack."

"It's powering up," I said in realization. "I wonder what other moves it has up its sleeve."

Crobat eventually stopped swinging its wings and flew back a little. Mew just waited in its position, while it rubbed its hands and grinned a second time.

"Aerial ace, again!" Red shouted. Mew took a second hit, then glowed white with stars spiraling around it again.

"Again!" Red ordered. Mew took a third hit, then raised its defenses with cosmic power again. Crobat attacked three more times, Mew using cosmic power after every attack. Red was trying to take Mew out as quickly as possible before its defense got too high. Crobat attacked a fourth time. Mew took the hit again, and this time fell a few feet before levitating itself back up.

"It's getting tired," Red observed. "Crobat, finish it!" Crobat flew in for a fifth attack while Mew used nasty plot a third time. Mew took the hit straight in the head. Mew squinted its eyes, gritted its teeth, grunted, and floated back up. Mew then began to glow white, as it absorbed little bits of white light that were forming around it. Recover.

"Crobat, aerial ace, one last time!" Mew took the hit, this time easily. Then it began glow again, this time becoming pure white, as its shape morphed into the shape of a Crobat. It stopped glowing, revealing itself to have actually become one.

"Transform," I said out loud. "What a combination. It boosts all of its defenses and attack power, then becomes its own opponent, only much more powerful."

Red's eyes widened, as he realized Eon's strategy. Or Mew's strategy. I didn't know how the heck it was fighting with no commands.

"Crobat, air slash!" Red commanded. Crobat flapped up a storm of blades, all sent hurdling through the air. The Mew-Crobat did the same, only the Mew-Crobat's blades easily cut clean through the real Crobat's, then kept on going, all crashing into flapped around randomly, disoriented. Mew-Crobat kept launching them. Crobat regained its sense of balance and began dodging clumsily, only to have Mew-Crobat launch them faster. Eventually Crobat couldn't keep it up and took a hit. It took several following more, then fell to the ground, completely still.

"Crobat is unable to battle, Mew wins!" Mew transformed back into itself as the crowd squee'd.

"Crobat, return." Red turned his eyes to Eon, who had called Mew over and was stroking it on the head.

"Espeon, let's go!" Espeon came out of its ball and crouched. Mew and Espeon eyed each other for about a minute, I actually timed it.

Eon held out Mew's luxury ball and called it back. Everyone in the crowd looked confused. Eon then took out a dusk ball and threw it. Out of it came a Darkrai.

The crowd responded the same way they did to Mew, with gasps. Probably for the same reason.

"Where did Eon meet all these legendary pokémon?" I asked Josh, pretending he knew the answer.

"Quit pretending I know the answer," He responded. "Anyway, let's see how Red maneuvers here."

"Espeon, psybeam!" Espeon shot a blue beam of light from the jewel on its forehead, which Darkrai absorbed without lifting a finger.

"Why the heck would he do that?" Nick asked me.

"Probably because he didn't want to go first," I answered. "Now Eon has to move."

Darkrai's eyes glowed red, then it absorbed the dark red streams of energy which began to form around it.

"That was scary looking," I said. "What was that?"

"I think that was nasty plot again," Josh answered. "Different pokémon have different ways of using it."

"Espeon, close in and use iron tail," Red decided, "do anything it takes to dodge attacks, I don't want you to take any hits." Espeon began to run towards Darkrai quickly, but cautiously. Darkrai quickly formed a black orb in its hand, which was outlined in dark red, then hurled it at Espeon with a massive force. Espeon was forced into a spur of the moment leap to the side. It barely managed to land on its feet, then continued its advance.

"What attack was that?" Nick asked Josh.

"Looked like dark void," I replied instead. "It's an attack that only Darkrai can learn, and it puts the target to sleep on contact."

Darkrai put its hands together and formed a cluster of black and red orbs, which it then fired at Espeon in the form of a powerful beam that was dark pulse. Espeon leapt forward, low to the ground, just barely ducking under the attack as it passed over.

Espeon had finally come into close proximity with Darkrai, as it jumped up towards it, its tail gleaming, then quickly twisted its body around in an attack, which Darkrai ducked under. Darkrai floated to the opposite side of the field, as its eyes began to glow and it absorbed more red energy. Darkrai followed up by forming another black and red orb in its hand and throwing it at Espeon like a baseball.

"Intercept with psybeam," Red yelled. Espeon shot a blue ray from the gem on its forehead, which the orb completely overwhelmed and swallowed.

"I guess psychic attacks have no effect on dark attacks, either," I said to Nick. I was impressed with Red's quick save:

"Protect!" He called, so fast it was almost illegible. In the nick of time, Espeon formed a green barrier around itself, which the dark orb bounced off of. As it happened, a light seemed to go off in Red's brain. I don't know what he was thinking, but he was definitely thinking. The barrier dissolved, then Espeon ran towards Darkrai again. Instead of attacking, Darkrai used another nasty plot, absorbing red energy with glowing red eyes. Espeon closed in, jumped, and swung another iron tail, which Darkrai dodged by levitating backwards slightly. Darkrai flew to the other end of the stage. It was an obvious strategy, but effective. I expected Darkrai to start launching another barrage of attack as Espeon ran over again. I was right.

Darkrai formed between its hands another cluster of black and red orbs, which it fired yet again at Espeon in a beam. Espeon jerked itself backwards to dodge. The thing that surprised me was that now Espeon wasn't charging, it just stood its ground. Eon raised an eyebrow in slight confusion. Darkrai formed another orb in its hand which it chucked at Espeon. Espeon's tail began to glow, then it jumped right into the path of the dark void attack. It twisted its body around and whacked the orb with its tail just like a baseball cracking against a bat. The orb flew back at Darkrai, moving even faster than it was originally, giving Darkrai no opportunity to dodge it. Darkrai was consumed in a black circle, then its eyes closed slowly, and it began to descend slowly to the ground.

Espeon ran as quickly as possible over to the sleeping pokémon, launched itself on top of it, then began to slam Darkrai continuously in the face with its iron tail. Eon closed his eyes, and looked like he was concentrating. At that very moment, Darkrai's eyes snapped open. It shoved Espeon off, then got up and shook its head. It looked pretty shaken from the barrage of iron tails it had just taken.

"That's insane!" Nick said to me. "It took five straight hits to the head! That would have taken out just about any pokémon that didn't have a type resistance!"

"This Darkrai isn't just about any pokémon," I said, my eyes still on the battle.

Darkrai formed yet another cluster of orbs in its hands, this time taking much longer. Espeon still stood in its position.

Come on Red, I thought to myself, don't just stand there, it's going to move in and hit you!

Darkrai fired the beam at Espeon.

"Protect!" Red called. Espeon Formed a green barrier around itself, which successfully blocked the attack. However, the time that Darkrai charged the attack also increased the time it was fired, which was much longer. Darkrai floated in closer as it continuously fired off the beam. Once the attack ended, Darkrai was about five inches away from its opponent.

"Iron tail," Red called. Espeon jumped into the air and swung its tail at Darkrai, who floated back. It quickly formed one dark void orb in each hand, then hurled one at Espeon at point blank. Espeon barely managed to leap back in time, however, while Espeon was still in the air, Darkrai threw the second orb, which connected. Espeon was enveloped in a dark sphere, then slowly descended to the ground as its eyes closed.

Darkrai took its time forming another dark pulse between its hands. The cluster grew to a massive size, then Darkrai finally fired the attack. It was so devastating, in fact, that it kicked up a huge cloud of dust around Espeon as it hit. The attack lasted for about five whole seconds, then it ended, and the dust cloud cleared. Espeon was lying on the ground motionless. The referee waved the flag. The last flag of the Hoenn League.

"Espeon is unable to battle! Darkrai wins, and the match goes to Eon, of- ...wherever!" The crowd poured out onto the field. Eon didn't show much emotional reaction besides raising an eyebrow, but nevertheless sprinted out of the stadium to avoid being crushed by the ensuing crowd. Red took his hat off, then went and knelt next to Espeon. I didn't know what he was saying, but he looked compassionate. He then called it back to its pokéball. Nick, Josh and I all walked over to him.

"Hey," I said. "Great fight."

"..."

"You were great," Josh added, "But Eon had this thing he did, or he didn't do... You know what I mean."

"It was unnatural," Red said. "That Darkrai... It moved and fought with more precision and skill than just a pokémon. Pokémon don't fight like that. Ever. I've fought enough to know, and that Darkrai was just..."

"Hey, Red," I comforted, "It was good, it's true. But that's all. Sometimes it may seem that way. I've battled what seemed like unnatural pokémon, too."

"No no no," Red cut me off, "It wasn't just the way it battled, it's the sense of fear it had around it, and believe me, I can read pokémon pretty well. It was almost like it was reaching out and speaking to me."

"Ok, now that's just freaky," Nick piped up.

"Uh," I tried to think of something to say.

"I'm going to go talk to him," Red decided. He stood up and started to walk away.

"About what?" Josh asked impulsively. Red stopped and turned his head.

"About... The battle. I feel like he was toying with me somehow." He replied finally. I had no idea why he wanted to see Eon, but it wasn't to congratulate him on the battle.

"Whatever," I said, "Just let him go."

"I'm going back to our room," Nick said.

"Me too," Josh added.

"You guys go ahead," I said. I left the stadium and walked down the street to the field out behind the pokémon center. I didn't get what Red was saying. Darkrai being unnatural, sure I could imagine it seeming that way. Heck, it was Darkrai. But Red thinking it was actually communicating, that was just a little unnerving. Then again, there were a lot of things about that Eon character that seemed pretty weir-

"Daniel?" I turned and saw a somewhat familiar person running towards me, across the grass. As they got closer, I identified her as Trinity, the girl Josh and I helped that one night, and that Nick battled. She ran up to me.

"You are Daniel, right?"

"Yeah... Why?"

"We never formally met, I'm Trinity." She shook my hand.

"I know your name, but why are you here?"

"I'm really sorry to bother you all of the sudden, but I need your help." She looked a little panicked. "It's Team Rocket." As soon as she said Team Rocket, I felt a little ball of anger building in my stomach.

"I'm listening," I said.


End file.
